Nobody would take me seriously. They would take one look at me and say, 'O.K., folk singer.' That was really hard for me, and I was angry a lot of the time. I did all these summer programs, and I never encountered another female playing jazz guitar. Ever.
— Mary Halvorson
Actually, a lot of my influences were horn players. I really liked Eric Dolphy, John Coltrane and Miles Davis - people like that. My dad had a lot of those records. So when I started playing jazz primarily, it wasn't jazz guitar that I was listening to.
I don't enjoy jazz guitar in general. I don't enjoy listening to a lot of it. I don't enjoy the tone. In general I've found its role in jazz to be kind of difficult.
I've kind of become obsessed with the pedal steel. It's a beautiful sound, and the mechanics of it are so interesting.
I think jazz guitar isn't very ladylike in general. Not that it shouldn't be.
