Jazz Articles about Amanda Monaco

Amanda Monaco: Glitter

by Dan Bilawsky
April 12, 2017

The multi-talented Mae West once said that “personality is the glitter that sends your little gleam across the footlights and the orchestra pit into that big black space where the audience is." West, of course, thrived in a different era, worked in different formats, and was more than likely addressing another artistic discipline entirely with that specific statement. But those remarks still apply here. In fact, everything in there--minus the orchestra pit and footlights--is really dead-on. Guitarist ...

Take Five With Amanda Monaco

by AAJ Staff
December 3, 2009

Meet Amanda Monaco: Playing guitar has led Amanda Monaco to perform at the Blue Note, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Birdland, Tonic, Joe's Pub, and the JVC Jazz Festival, as well as other venues in the United States and Europe. Amanda has recorded several CDs as both a leader and a sideman, and has shared the stage with musicians such as Milt Hinton, Matt Wilson, Matana Roberts, and Harvie S. As an educator, Amanda has served on the ...

Amanda Monaco: I Think I'll Keep You

by Stuart Broomer
April 2, 2009

Amanda Monaco is a guitarist whose style is deeply rooted in her instrument's lyrical lineage, at times channeling the singing tone of Jim Hall, at others declaring her own, more forceful sound. Most of the tunes here are Monaco originals and she's created efficient vehicles for both her own voice and the collective dialogues that seem to come so naturally to her quartet. Monaco's affinity with Hall is especially evident in the tremendous swing she can generate with ...

Amanda Monaco: Intention

by AAJ Italy Staff
August 10, 2007

C’è qualcosa di sfuggente e di indefinito nella musica di Amanda Monaco, chitarrista e compositrice allieva di Ted Dunbar, Kenny Barron e Harold Mabern, oltre che membro fondatore delle Lascivious Biddies, pluripremiato quartetto pop tutto al femminile. Quando pensi di essere pienamente entrato nei codici interpretativi dei suoi brani, di averne compreso l’intima essenza, ecco che subentra la sensazione di aver dimenticato qualche dettaglio, di aver tralasciato qualche particolare apparentemente di poco conto che lascia sfocata l’immagine finale, in una ...

Amanda Monaco 4: Intention

by Clifford Allen
July 21, 2007

The midrange frequently offers more interesting textures, colors and possibilities in improvised music, precisely because it is sometimes a music that's, even to the initiated, thought of as an art form that embraces the extremes. But for every John McLaughlin or Wes Montgomery, there is a Joe Morris, an Attila Zoller, or an Amanda Monaco. Guitarist, composer and educator, Monaco's music is unassuming but complex free bop, and hinges mostly on the situations she has set up ...

Amanda Monaco 4: Intention

by John Kelman
May 5, 2007

It's been four years since Amanda Monaco 4 released its self-titled debut, although guitarist Monaco has been far from inactive. She's appeared on Get Lucky (Eastway, 2004), the second album by all-female cocktail pop band The Lascivious Biddies, published an instructional guitar book, Jazz Guitar for the Absolute Beginner (Alfred Publishing, 2005) and is in a new jazz group, Playdate, along with saxophonist Wayne Escoffery.

Intention builds on the successes of the quartet's debut, placing an even more modern spin ...

Amanda Monaco 4: Intention

by Elliott Simon
April 13, 2007

Over and above ability, it takes chops, confidence and cool for jazz guitarists to invite a tenor saxophonist to partake in their music. When it gels, such as the classic Rollins/Hall pairing or the more recent Lovano/Scofield tandem, it can result in a meeting that blends the strengths of both instruments into a stylistic whole. Intention, Amanda Monaco's second CD as leader, succeeds as such and plainly demonstrates her proficiencies across all these areas. Tenor saxophonist Jason ...