Amanda Monaco 4

Intention

Innova 667

1. Intention 6:45

2. ResolutionLift 5:25

3. TelAviv I Love Her 6:30

4. Procrastination 4:21

5. OldSkool Flava 6:18

6. DeadlinesLooming 5:39

7. Deception 7:03

8. MyMan Stan 4:18

Total:46:19

Amanda Monaco:

guitar

Jason Gillenwater:

tenor saxophone, clarinet

Fraser Hollins:

acoustic bass

Jeff Davis:

Drums

AmandaMonaco 4 formed in late September2001. Despite the horrors ofSeptember 11, it was one of those idyllic times where the whole band lived inthe same neighborhood; I had a huge apartment in Harlem with a drum set andjazz-loving neighbors, one of whom would turn off her radio every time werehearsed so she could listen. Weplayed every Thursday afternoon, with a trip to the local greasy spoon,Floridita, afterwards for chicken with rice and beans and café con leche. We kept this up for months, making ourfirst recording in March 2002, and continuing until Fraser moved to Canada thatsummer. Upon his return (but afterwe had all moved to different neighborhoods and my apartment became smaller,with no drum set) we still played frequently and toured. We recorded this CD in December 2005after getting off the road.

Thesongs on this recording come from a variety of different sources, situations,and emotions.

Intention was written around a specific idea coupled with acomposing technique I like to use – taking one note and harmonizing itmyriad ways; the idea is the E minor progression at both the beginning of thepiece and the end of the A section. I began writing Intentionin a little music hut in the woods at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Banff,Canada.

ResolutionLift, written by JasonGillenwater, was originally a duo piece for saxophone and drums, but afterplaying it a few times in rehearsal, and discovering that it fit well in thequartet setting, it became part of the repertoire of the band. It is a melody with no harmony attachedto it, allowing the piece to move in any direction that the ensemble is hearingat any given moment. We’ve playedit many different ways, from all-out noise to fast swing throughout.

TelAviv I Love Her is the second ofmy middle-eastern-sounding compositions with cheesy titles. It’s a slow, sexy rhumba, with a fewlittle rhythmic twists. It ends onthe same note as Procrastinationbegins on...

Procrastination is just that – originally the second pageof Intention, but somehowmisplaced in a pile of papers that is my music office, this song went largelyuntouched for a long time. Iprocrastinated finishing it for so long that eventually I ended up with twoslightly separate versions, both of which were played simultaneously in thestudio (bass had one version, saxophone the other.)

WhenI’m not playing with my own quartet, I play guitar and sing in an all-femalequartet called The Lascivious Biddies. Old Skool Flava was written for its lead singer, a vivacious,hot-blooded young firebrand from Texas who is equal parts chanteuse, honky-tonkqueen and hip hop diva. It’s notyour typical hip-hop ditty, considering that the first theme fluctuates between4/4 and 5/4 time.

DeadlinesLooming was written a week beforethe quartet went on tour and made this recording. It was also written during a football game where the GreenBay Packers were losing (again) and were running out of time to redeemthemselves. I was also reallypushing the deadline for getting one more song recorded, so anxiety was in theair.

Iwrote Deception after beinginformed that I was to vacate my room in a three-bedroom loft in Brooklyn amere three days after moving in. It’s a composition that flows back and forth between 5/4 and 4/4, with afew bars of 3/4 thrown in for good measure.

Likeother songs I’ve written, My Man Stan is a classic example of what do you when you’ve procrastinated tothe point of having to throw something together quickly. It was November 26, 2003, mygrandfather’s 90th birthday, and somehow I forgot to shop for a gift for him,so I sat down at my mother’s kitchen table and wrote this song in twentyminutes. It’s a ballad, very tonal,meant to be sweet.

Acknowledgements:

Manythanks to my family, friends, husband, and all of my teachers. This CD is dedicated to thememory of Domenic Monaco (1948-2006), the best dad ever, the funniest andwisest man I’ve ever known, and the type of guy who would try to give everyonea bear hug all at the same time.

Allcompositions by Amanda Monaco (Santella Music,

SESAC)except Resolution Lift (JasonGillenwater).

AmandaMonaco plays Brian Moore Guitars.

RecordedDecember 11, 2005, Bennett Studios,

Englewood,NJ. Engineer: Brian Dozoretz

Coverart by Lydia Booz

InnovaDirector: Philip Blackburn

OperationsManager: Chris Campbell

Innovais supported by an endowment from the McKnight Foundation. Supported in part by a grant from theNew York State Music Fund.