Mary Halvorson Amaryllis Sextet (US)

Would you be so bold as to already declare that the American Mary Halvorson Amaryllis Sextet was the best jazz group to play at the Tampere Jazz Happening this year? At least 251 media influencers who responded to DownBeat magazine’s traditional international Critics Poll are mostly convinced of the subjective superiority of the ensemble. The Mary Halvorson Amaryllis Sextet won with 193 votes in the Critics Poll, which was published in the August issue of the magazine, beating out the groups led by Kris Davis, Charles Lloyd, Vijay Iyer, Branford Marsalis and Ambrose Akinmusire by a margin of at least thirty votes.

The victory of guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson (b. 1980) was crowned by an even bigger win as Guitarist of the Year, even though this came as no surprise. She had also claimed the number one spot in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, making this her ninth consecutive win. As the title of a successful American comedy film says, There’s Something About Mary. According to the magazine’s traditional annual Readers Poll, the top choices of readers remained guitarists such as Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny and John Scofield. Halvorson, who always plays seated and has a somewhat shy stage presence, definitely does not fit into this group.

Halvorson’s role as a composer, arranger and bandleader is emphasised, particularly within the exceptional instrumentation of the Amaryllis Sextet, which has already recorded four albums within a short period of time. The most recent album, which features two additional saxophonists, is About Ghosts, which was released in June. The figures cavorting on the album cover might seem somehow familiar to Finns. They bear a slight resemblance to the mysterious, ghost-like Moomin characters, the Hattifatteners, created by Finnish author Tove Jansson.