About the Artist

About Mary Halm

Based in Chicago since 2015, bassist and composer Mary Halm has honed a diverse musical skillset playing in a variety of groups around the city. She is soon to debut a new project, weaving together original compositions with arrangements of songs by Mary Lou Williams, Abbey Lincoln, and other historic women jazz composers for a set that is both inventive and reflective. Halm performed with Markus Stockhausen in 2018 through Fulcrum Point New Music Project following a clinic on Karlheinz Stockhausen’s concept of “intuitive music.” She also played alongside Brandee Younger and Courtney Bryan with DePaul University Jazz Ensemble at the School of Music’s Unveiled event in 2018. Halm has been a recurring house band member of the cult-followed variety show, The Fly Honeys, since 2018. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies as well as a Master of Music in Jazz Performance from DePaul University, where her master’s research centered around women in jazz and jazz bass pedagogy. Halm has become a sought-after educator, working in city high schools, serving as a clinician at Midwest Young Artist’s 2022 Chicago Bass Festival, and maintaining her own private studio.

About Helios

Emily Kuhn’s Helios combines chamber music and jazz to perform highly improvisational, expressive music. Featuring strings and vocals, the band plays original music and arrangements that are rooted in jazz and weave between sounds from folk, popular, and classical musical traditions. Helios’ unique instrumentation lends itself to an emphasis on highly melodic, groove-based songs with lush harmonies, and the music is often inspired by the natural world. The band has appeared at venues including the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Green Mill, Constellation, Elastic Arts, and Chicago’s Night Out in the Parks festival. They are featured on Kuhn’s 2020 release, Sky Stories.