13 QUESTION METHOD: AMANDA MONACO

Amanda Monaco spends most of her time with the Lascivious Biddies, an all-female quartet known for their exhilarating live performances and "angelic vocals, wordy humor, jazz chops and pop moxie" (Time Out New York). Touring nationally since 2002, The Biddies have gained a steady following wherever they go. They have appeared on CBS Evening News, Fuse TV, and received press from the Washington Post and MTV. They were a critics’ pick at the 2005 SXSW Music Festival in Austin. They continue to perform under the banner of the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert Series, which brings music to the five boroughs of New York City.
Aside from her work with the Biddies, Amanda's current projects include her own quartet, the Amanda Monaco 4. Their 2003 self-titled release achieved critical acclaim in the United States and Europe. They have toured nationally and played the JVC Jazz Festival in 2004. All About Jazz says her playing is "utterly unique, a breath of fresh air in the cookie-cutter climes of both mainstream and free jazz.

1. Which was the first record you bought with your own money?
Probably Kind of Blue. I started attending a school for the arts in my junior year of high school, and that was the first jazz record my teacher assigned. It was also the first jazz record I had ever heard at that point, and I promptly wore the cassette out after countless listenings.

2. Which was the last record you bought with your own money?
Elements of Style, Exercises in Surprise, by the Vandermark 5. I find Ken Vandermark's music to be very exciting and creative, incredibly loose yet structured.

3. What was the first solo you learned from a record — and can you still play it?
The first solo I learned from a record was Miles Davis' solo on "So What," and I can still play it. It was the first class assignment I had at the arts high school I went to. We all had to learn "So What" and then we were paired off to transcribe the rest of Miles' solos on the record. It was a really great introduction to jazz, as it was the first time I had ever had any experience listening to and playing it.

4. Which recording of your own (or as a sideman) are you most proud of, and why?
My quartet CD, Amanda Monaco 4. We rehearsed every week for six months, then went into the Bennett Studios in Englewood, New Jersey, and knocked the whole thing out in five hours. The engineer set us up in a circle, just the way we’d rehearsed, and we recorded live to two-track. We had a blast, and the CD came out great.

5. What's the difference between playing live and playing in a studio?
Live gigs have an audience to connect with; studio playing is where you think more about the product you'll be delivering to your audience.

6. What's the difference between a good gig and a bad gig?
A good gig is when the music really gets you in that beautiful groove of a way; a bad gig is when you just don't feel the musicians are communicating with each other. And of course, it's always an annoying gig when the audience is disrespectful — since when is it acceptable to scream over any musical performance?

7. What's the difference between a good guitar and a bad guitar?
A good guitar stays in tune from song to song and has good intonation. A good guitar doesn't make you fight it to make music on it.

8. You play electric and acoustic. Do you approach the two differently?
Not really, though there are gigs that I play entirely on acoustic guitar that are very different from what I play with my quartet.

9. Do you sound more like yourself on acoustic or electric?
Definitely on electric, though I don't really change my style so much from one to the other.

10. Do you sound like yourself on other people's guitars?
I think I do. Even when it's not my guitar, I make a point of trying to play how I play, not really thinking, "Oh, this guitar is different."

11. Which living artist (music, or other arts) would you like to collaborate with?
I'd love to collaborate with Matt Wilson. He's one of the most creative musicians I know. Also, Ken Vandermark — I love what he's writing and playing these days.

12. What dead artist (music, or other arts) would you like to have collaborated with?
Since my teens, I’d always wanted to play in Joe Henderson's band. When he died without that happening, I was sad.

13. What's your latest project about?
My latest projects are the ones I've devoted a lot of time to over the past several years — my all-female "cocktail pop" quartet the Lascivious Biddies, and my jazz quartet Amanda Monaco 4. Both involve a lot of room to grow. With the Biddies, someone brings in a new song — either original or something obscure — and we rearrange it, throw in some four-part harmonies, and make it a group effort. In my quartet, we play all original music and try playing it different ways, too.

Web site: http://www.amandamonaco.com/