Over the last two decades,
Mary Halvorson
has defined herself as a restless, adventurous, and nearly limitless musician: she's a guitarist, composer, improviser, and bandleader. Like
Anthony Braxton
or
Charles Mingus
, her musical appetite for variation in sounds, textures, expansive harmony, drama, and dynamics inside a given enemble is uncontainable; openly reflected in her many recordings.
Cloudward
was recorded by
Amaryllis
(
Halvorson
, guitar;
Tomas Fujiwara
, drums;
Adam O'Farrill
, trumpet;
Patricia Brennan
, vibes;
Jacob Garchik
, trombone;
Nick Dunston
, bass), who recorded the album of that title in 2022.
These eight compositions differ somewhat from those on
, though they remain easily identifiable as
's. She offers more blank and interactive spaces on
. The band breathes collectively in this music. Opener "The Gate" offers a labyrinthine head pairing trumpet, trombone, vibes, and guitar before the melody crosses flamenco, jazz, tarantella, and post-bop with elegant soloing from
O'Farrill
as vibes, trombone, bass, and drums propel him on. "The Tower" demonstrates the unique personality of
the guitarist. Accompanied by
Brennan
's vibraphone, her harmonic invention through fingerpicked engagement details a post-bop conversation and improvisation.
's quotes from "'Round Midnight" add heft and dimension. A gong and sparse drumming introduce "Unscrolling." It's nearly a processional and could have appeared as an outtake from
Charlie Haden
's
Ballad of the Fallen
, save for the compelling, warm soloing from
Dunston
and
. Immediately following, "Desiderata" is framed by a rock backbeat under
's vibes as horns and guitar entwine to erect a knotty, circular melody. The tenderness in conversation between guitar trills and brass is breathtaking -- nearly cinematic -- before
delivers a distorted, noisy solo as
supports, bridging funk, avant-rock, and jazz. While "Incarnadine" is a nearly formless exercise in dynamic and texture with circular string and electric guitar lines, "Tailhead" is introduced by a two-minute drum solo before the band wanders through an interlocking minor modal progression that bristles with implied intensity before
Garchik
delivers a wandering trombone solo that
,
, and, to a lesser degree,
, anchor, append, and expand. "Ultramarine" is both the set closer and its longest track. It commences with a canny, minute-long upright bass solo before
's angular, slide-laden avant-Delta-style blues join him and they develop a steamy yet propulsive vamp. Vibes join in a song-like interlude before horns and the rhythm section engage a second melody that walks the line between Americana, Latin folk music, gospel, and soul-jazz.
's compositions on
are impressive. She accounts for individual players' strengths as soloists while counting on them as ensemble players. She grafts and threads striated post-bop harmony, edgeless dissonance, and kinetic drama simultaneously, then blurs the edges expressionistically in crafting a detailed, multivalent, resonant, deeply satisfying whole from seemingly disparate individual elements. ~ Thom Jurek