New York Guitarist Amanda Monaco Releases New Album: Deathblow

JGT contributor Joe Barth talks to guitarist Amanda Monaco about her new album, Deathblow.

Busy playing around New York and elsewhere, and teaching at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Amanda Monaco finds the guitar in her hands a lot these days.  You might see her performing with her organ band, Glitter, or her all-female sextet, Lioness, or her eclectic quartet, Deathblow, which has just released a new album of the same name.

Above photo by Anna Yatskevitch

JB:  Before I ask about the new Deathblow album, tell me about yourself.  I know you were a big Eddie Van Halen fan.  What brought you to jazz guitar?

 AM:  I really think the inspiration to play jazz comes from The Muppet Show, which was on the air when I was a kid. There were a lot of episodes that featured jazz standards in goofy situations, and there were some fantastic arrangements of them, too. 

I was a huge Eddie Van Halen fan, but to be honest, none of my rock guitar teachers could help me with technique or theory, and I was a bit lost. (Fun fact: years later, one of them apologized to me on social media for being a lousy guitar teacher!). I then found out about this arts high school in New Haven, to which I applied, was accepted, and I studied jazz guitar with an incredible teacher named George Raccio. He is the reason I am a musician today. My classmates included saxophonist Wayne Escoffery and pianist Noah Baerman, and he taught all of us a great deal of music and how to “keep it simple”. 

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JB:  Amanda, to learn more about what shaped your musical values on the guitar, what are the three most influential guitar albums, and why? 

AM:  First is Jim Hall on Sonny Rollins’ album The Bridge. His comping and soloing on that record is perfect.

Next would be an early John McLaughlin album, Extrapolation. I love the compositions as well as the fine line between free improvisation and form.

Third is The Wes Montgomery Trio. Recorded in 1959 with Mel Rhyne (organ) and Paul Parker (drums). “Round Midnight” was one of the first guitar solos I ever transcribed, and I love how Wes plays the tunes on that record – his phrasing, especially.

JB:  Let’s talk about your new album, Deathblow.  Tell me about the opening track, “Aw Gee, Thanks”. How is that title reflected in the music?

AM:  “Aw Gee, Thanks” is a sarcastic comment I made on a home video as a teenager to the family member who was videotaping at our barbecue. Like my sullen teenage self, the melody comes in jabs and doesn’t say a lot, but at the same time speaks volumes.

 JB:  Is that a wah-wah used on your solo on  “Submarine Nuke Officer”? Talk about that composition.

AM:  Yes! It’s a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe wah-wah set to the “Shaft” setting. I wrote “Submarine Nuke Officer” for my friend Isaac, who’s in the Navy. I was in graduate school studying post-tonal theory, and the melody is based on set theory, a compositional tool often used by Bela Bartok.

JB:  The album consists of all original compositions by you.  Did you compose this music for this particular project?

AM:  I did compose the music for this specific project. Almost all of my composing is project-based; in fact, I often come up with the song titles before even writing the songs.

JB:  How much of the music is written out for the players, and how much is the free improvising of the musicians?

AM:  The melodies are mine; the improvisation is theirs. I really try to write strong musical statements, and then surround them with chaos/whimsy/group improv.

JB:  The middle of “Ya” has, to me, a bit of a  ”John S” vibe from Sonny Rollins’ The Bridge album. Any connection there?

AM:  Probably. The Bridge is easily one of my five favorite albums, and I’ve transcribed Jim Hall’s solo and comping on “Without a Song”, the first cut on the album.

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JB:  Bassist Sean Conly and drummer Satoshi Takeishi play superbly.  What do you appreciate most about these two musicians as your rhythm section? 

AM:  Sean and Satoshi are equal parts sensitive and powerful. They aren’t afraid to make bold statements when they’re playing my music, and their playfulness within the tunes is always twisting and turning in ways that can be unpredictable, but are always beautiful.

JB:  Michael Attias is a lyrical saxophonist. What do you appreciate about his playing?

AM:  I love Michael’s approach to melody and timbre. I really appreciate his virtuosic command of the saxophone and his ability to use exactly what is needed at the time for the music he’s playing.

JB:  I love the ostinato groove on the “J. Walter Hawkes Will Save the Day”. Tell me about that song.

AM:  Thanks! J Walter Hawkes was my downstairs neighbor for 14 years and also the reason this album exists. The hard drive that I had recorded the album onto was corrupt, and I didn’t have a backup. Walter took the operating system Linux and pulled the music off of the corrupt drive in 18 hours. So, the song had already been recorded, but I changed the name to “J Walter Hawkes Will Save the Day”, which actually fits the opening line of the melody perfectly.

JB:  What do you appreciate most about your Brian Moore guitar?

AM:  My Brian Moore guitar has a big sound for a tiny instrument. I’m 5’ 2”, so a big jazz box makes my body ache. With the Brian Moore, I can get a big sound and not feel like I need a chiropractor. 

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JB:  You close with “A Nespresso Moment.” Tell me about it.AM:  In 2006 I bought a Nespresso machine and the company kept sending me literature wishing me many happy “Nespresso Moments”. The song is meant to convey the emotions experienced when drinking way too much espresso and then coming down crashing at the end. You may have noticed that the introduction on the tune is played three times, and each time, it speeds up just a little bit. 

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JB:  Then you also have a bonus track.

AM:  Even though it’s only a bonus track on the download card or at Bandcamp: “Excrementalizing” is a term coined by the psychologist Jon Allen. It means “mentalizing a situation and doing a crappy job of it.” I wrote the song for him, and it has these solo improvisations interspersed throughout, sort of music “navel gazing”, if you will.

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