Ava Mendoza is an American guitarist, vocalist, and composer.
An avant-garde artist whose work is described as traversing a number of genres, Mendoza has performed with a wide range of musicians, including Nels Cline, Matana Roberts, Nick Zinner, Jon Irabagon, William Hooker, William Parker, Fred Frith, The Violent Femmes, Weasel Walter, tUnE-yArDs, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Rova Saxophone Quartet, Moppa Elliott, Negativland, Bill Orcutt, and Malcolm Mooney. Mendoza also leads the avant-rock band Unnatural Ways, a trio with Tim Dahl and Sam Ospovat.
Early life and career
Mendoza grew up in Southern California before moving to Michigan to attend high school at Interlochen Arts Academy, where she studied classical guitar; outside of school, she began improvising and playing in rock and punk bands. Mendoza later enrolled at Mills College in Oakland, California, studying with Fred Frith while attaining her BA in Intermedia Arts. After graduating in 2006, Mendoza continued performing extensively in Oakland and the wider Bay Area. Among her many projects and collaborations, Mendoza released a solo album, Shadow Stories; started her band Unnatural Ways; co-formed QUOK, a trio with Weasel Walter and Tim Dahl; and performed duo improvisations with Nels Cline.
In 2011, she was included in the Guitar World feature "10 Female Guitarists You Should Know" and contributed to the $100 Guitar Project, in which Nick Didkovsky and Chuck O’Meara performed and recorded on a guitar which they then circulated among over 65 guitarists, including Mendoza, Elliott Sharp, Mike Keneally, Fred Frith, Henry Kaiser, Keith Rowe, and Nels Cline. Each musician autographed and recorded a piece on the guitar, and the resulting works were released on Bridge Records in 2013.
In 2012, Mendoza collaborated with tUnE-yArDs to compose a live score for Buster Keaton: Four Short Films , performed at the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival.
In 2013, Mendoza moved from Oakland, California to Brooklyn, New York, where she has since performed at venues including Roulette Intermedium, as part of the Vision Festival; National Sawdust, as part of John Zorn's Commissioning Series and in a performance of his 1984 "game piece" Cobra; Rockefeller Plaza, with Nick Zinner’s 41 Strings; and The Stone, where she was given a week-long artist residency.
In 2015, Mendoza released the first of three albums as bandleader of Unnatural Ways. The band's first album, featuring Dominique Leone (synthesizer, keyboards) and Nick Tamburro (drums), was recorded prior to Mendoza's departure from California. After moving to the East Coast, Mendoza sought out local bandmates; by the time the self-titled debut was released, Unnatural Ways had solidified as a new trio with Tim Dahl (bass) and Sam Ospovat (drums). This lineup is featured on 2016's We Aliens, released on Zorn's Tzadik Records, and 2019's The Paranoia Party, which Mendoza describes as being "about aliens and being alien: political paranoia, inclusion, exclusion, migration, immigration, border crossing, alter egos and alternate realities". In 2016, Mendoza also released a split with Sir Richard Bishop and a collaborative record with Maxime Petit and Will Guthrie.
In 2017, Mendoza contributed an essay to Arcana VIII : musicians on music, a special anniversary collected edition in John Zorn's Arcana series.
She has recorded as a member of Jon Irabagon's I Don't Hear Nothin' but the Blues, the William Hooker Trio, and Moppa Elliott's Acceleration Due To Gravity. Mendoza also performs with Malcolm Mooney as a duo and in his Eleventh Planet, a project the Can vocalist began in 2019 with Mendoza, Alexis Marcelo, Steve Shelley, Daniel Moreno, and Devin Brahja Waldman.
Mendoza was included among the "rising star guitarists" of the DownBeat Critics Poll in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.
Discography
As leader/co-leader
Release yearArtistTitleLabelPersonnel2010Ava MendozaShadow StoriesResipiscentsolo2012Ava Mendoza with Nick TamburroQuit your Unnatural WaysWeird ForestMendoza, Nick Tamburro2013Jacob Lindsay / Ava Mendoza / Damon Smith / Weasel WalterJusBalance Point AcousticsLindsay, Mendoza, Smith, Walter2015Unnatural WaysUnnatural WaysNew AtlantisMendoza with Dominique Leone, Nick Tamburro2016Unnatural WaysWe AliensTzadikMendoza with Tim Dahl, Sam Ospovat2016Sir Richard Bishop & Ava Mendoza (split)Ivory TowerUnrockBishop, Mendoza2016Ava Mendoza / Maxime Petit / Will GuthrieAva Mendoza / Maxime Petit / Will GuthrieRanch / BeCoqMendoza, Petit, Guthrie2019Unnatural WaysThe Paranoia PartySleeping Giant GlossolaliaMendoza with Tim Dahl, Sam Ospovat 2020Mendoza / Anderson / GauciStudio Sessions Vol. 4GaucimusicMendoza, Vijay Anderson, Stephen Gauci2021fluke-mogul / Liberatore / Mattrey / MendozaDeath in the Gilded AgeTripticks Tapesgabby fluke-mogul, Matteo Liberatore, Joanna Mattrey, Mendoza2023Mendoza Hoff RevelsEcholocationAUM FidelityAva Mendoza, James Brandon Lewis, Devin Hoff, Ches Smith2024Ava MendozaThe Circular TrainPalilaliasolo2025fluke-mogul / Mendoza / PérezMama KillaBurning Ambulance Musicgabby fluke-mogul, Mendoza, Carolina Pérez
As side-person Release yearArtistTitleLabelPersonnel2012Jon Raskin and Carla HarrymanOpen BoxTzadikRaskin & Harryman with Liz Allbee, Aurora Josephson, Mendoza, Gino Robair, Roham Sheikhani, John Shiurba2014Zachary James WatkinsMixed RacedLand and SeaWatkins' compositions, performed by John Shiurba, Mendoza, Jason Hoopes, Christina Stanley2018ChaserChaserNot UnlikeDominika Michalowska, Mendoza, Shayna Dulberger, Oran Canfield2018Sean Noonan's Pavees DanceTan Man’s Hat RareNoiseNoonan, Malcolm Mooney, Mendoza, Alexis Marcelo, Jamaaladeen Tacuma2018William Hooker TrioRememberingAstral SpiritsHooker, Mendoza, Damon Smith2019Moppa ElliottAcceleration Due to GravityHot Cup RecordsNate Wooley, Dave Taylor, Matt Nelson, Bryan Murray, Kyle Saulnier, Mendoza, George Burton, Elliott, Mike Pride2019NegativlandTrue FalseSeelandNegativland (Ian Allen, Peter Conheim, Mark Hosler, Don Joyce, Jon Leidecker, Richard Lyons, David Wills) with Nava Dunkelman, Ava Mendoza, The Not Normal Animal Chorus, Prairie Prince, M. C. Schmidt2020I Don't Hear Nothin' but the BluesAnatomical SnuffboxF Magellan MusicJon Irabagon with Mendoza, Mick Barr, Mike Pride2020NegativlandThe World Will DecideSeelandNegativland with Kyle Bruckmann, Drew Daniel, Tom Dimuzio, Jem Doulton, Nava Dunkelman, Kristin Erickson, Steve Fisk, Erich Hubner, Mendoza, Prairie Prince, M. C. Schmidt2020Nate WooleySeven Storey Mountain VIPyroclastic RecordsWooley with Samara Lubelski, C. Spencer Yeh, Chris Corsano, Ben Hall, Ryan Sawyer, Susan Alcorn, Julien Desprez, Mendoza, Isabelle O’Connell, Emily Manzo, Yoon Sun Choi, Mellissa Hughes, Megan Schubert2021William ParkerMayan Space StationAUM FidelityParker (bass, compositions), Mendoza (electric guitar), Gerald Cleaver (drums)2024Bill OrcuttFour Guitars LivePalilaliaOrcutt (electric guitar), Wendy Eisenberg (electric guitar), Mendoza (electric guitar), Shane Parish (electric guitar)
References