Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson are contemporary improvisers who approach abstraction from two different angles: Courvoisier as a pianist at the bridge between free jazz and European classical music, and Halvorson as a deconstructive guitar improviser, strongly affiliated with the Brooklyn jazz scene. Searching for the Disappeared Hour marks the second collaboration for these two singular musicians. Their initial collaboration, 2017’s Crop Circles, was recorded after a single concert (at New York’s now-defunct Cornelia Street Café) and found them repurposing existing compositions for the duo context. By contrast, the music on Searching for the Disappeared Hour was composed expressly for the duo, taking stunning advantage of the chemistry and familiarity forged during tours of Europe and United States.
The Liceu Jazz – Masterclasses & Concerts concert series is part of the close collaboration that the Fundació Conservatori Liceu has maintained for 12 years with the Voll-Damm Barcelona Jazz Festival, with the patronage of the Ferrer-Salat Music Foundation.