Glitter Amanda Monaco

• 1Dry Clean Only04:46
• 2Freight Train04:10
• 3Gremlin From The Kremlin04:56
• 4Girly Day05:14
• 5The Mean Reds05:16
• 6Step Counter03:42
• 7Theme For Ernie05:53
• 8Mimosa Blues05:46
• 9Glitter06:05
• Total Runtime45:48

Info for Glitter

Take a moment to tune in to the tasteful playing of guitarist Amanda Monaco on her new effort “Glitter.” Employing a wide palette of styles and sounds, this gifted instrumentalist makes a bold and entertaining artistic statement with her stunning musicianship and her collection of original compositions. Amanda shines brightly as the bandleader and surrounds herself with some of the heaviest cats on the scene, including organist Gary Versace, drummer Matt Wilson, and baritone saxophone sensation Lauren Sevian. While the session is definitely straight ahead and features some hard swinging highlights, at other moments “Glitter” is also elegantly lyrical and brilliantly evocative of a more modern jazz sensibility.

"This straight-ahead session digs into both hard- and post-bop schools of music, and always keeps the door open for thick blues expressions to enter at will. Monaco possesses the ability to set a song on fire with a guitar solo, as she does on “Dry Clean Only,” but it’s how she makes her presence known from the thick of ensemble play that really shines the light on her talent. The way she weaves melodic lines into the fabric of Sevian’s baritone sax on “Girly Day” is a prime example of the benefits derived from this approach. And then there’s the simple fun when the quartet digs into a groove with all they’ve got, as on the cheerful “The Mean Reds.” Most tracks settle in the mid- to up-tempo range, and that’s the speed where the quartet is at its strongest. There’s no enjoyment let-down on the ballad for “Theme For Ernie,” but unrelenting cheerfulness incited by the brisk “Freight Trane” is the kind of thing that forges a strong connection between instrument and ear.

Just one of those solid, straight-ahead sessions that you’ll be glad to have sitting in your music library." (birdistheworm.com)

Amanda Monaco, guitar
Lauren Sevian, baritone saxophone
Gary Versace, organ
Matt Wilson, drums

Amanda Monaco
has performed at venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, Jazz Standard and Flushing Town Hall, and with artists such as Milt Hinton, Steve Wilson, Rufus Reid, and the Mingus Orchestra. She has released eight albums to date and her current jazz projects include her eclectic quartet Deathblow, rambunctious organ quartet Glitter, and all-female jazz sextet Lioness. Her New Music ensemble The Pirkei Avot Project performs her original music with lyrics from selected verses (from a collection of rabbinical teachings with the same name) compiled in the third century C.E.

Amanda’s guitar playing is “well within the modernist canon, but quite distinctive: her phrasing is often made up of tartly dissonant chords and insistent yet off-kilter repetitions that remind one of Grant Green by way of Andrew Hill… her playing is utterly unique, a breath of fresh air in the cookie-cutter climes of both mainstream and free jazz.” (Clifford Allen, The New York City Jazz Record)

An educator since 1990, Amanda is an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music where she teaches private instruction, labs and guitar ensembles. Amanda’s book, Jazz Guitar for the Absolute Beginner (Alfred Publishing), is available worldwide.

Amanda is the Artistic Director of Convergence Arts, Inc., a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization whose mission is to share the art and fun of improvisation with people of all ages. Since 2013, Convergence has received funding from the Queens Council on the Arts for myriad projects including the Six String Summit Guitar Festival, The Queens Jazz OverGround Spring Jazz Fest, and the Lioness: Women in Jazz concert series.

Amanda received her M.A.from The City College of New York in 2008. In her undergraduate years, Amanda studied with Ted Dunbar, Kenny Barron, Rufus Reid and Harold Mabern. She received her B.Mus from William Paterson University.

This album contains no booklet.