ADA: Can you talk a little about how you got started? Did you have a "starving artist" phase?
MF: I don't think there is any artist who hasn't. I've done a lot of grassroots work, a lot of touring and festivals. I went between a couple record labels for awhile until I signed a contract with Monarch records. That really turned things around for me and established me nationally and internationally. Around that time also I met my manager and booking agent, Ed Dunsavage. My second album with Monarch was very successful, and I've gotten to play with some very well-known musicians, but most of it has just been being out there and doing it.
ADA: Why did you pick guitar?
MF: This is going to sound cliché, but it picked me. I started playing drums when I was nine, and picked up the guitar when I was 10. My entire family was musical, so I not only had their influences of Dixieland jazz but also the modern influences of the Beatles, the Monkees, etc. By the time I was 14 or 15 I started listening to jazz, then got into jazz guitar in my early 20s.
ADA: All the critics rave about your ability to blend musical sensitivity with an extraordinary technical skill. Can you trace this to a particular influence or was it just your own work?
MF: I think it's a combination of factors. Of course I practice a lot, 3-6 hours a day, but for fifteen years I practiced a strict 6 hours a day. That's where I got the technical ability from, but the technical aspects are just tools to express oneself. That's really what I'm trying to do: make beautiful music. Nobody cares how fast you can type as long as you can write a nice letter.
ADA: Who would name as your main influences?
MF: Very eclectic when I was a kid. I listened to pop stars like Stevie Wonder and James Taylor (both of whom revered jazz). As far as jazz influences went, probably the Coltrain quartet was the biggest.
ADA: Does the fact that you are one of the only established female jazz guitarists factor into your thinking at all? How do you feel about the "torchbearer" title?
MF: It's mixed blessing. On the one hand, it's great to be paving that trail, but on the other it's sad that there aren't more women out here. That is definitely changing, though: I see more and more talented women on every instrument in countries all over. But I think it will be great when the question becomes obsolete, when I can talk about the music without being a "female guitarist."
ADA: It seems to me that there are more professional female classical musicians than jazz, though I don't know why.
MF: I do. Classical music is still more stereotypically feminine. Jazz requires stepping out on a limb; it's like walking a tightrope with no rope underneath. It takes courage for anyone to express themselves in that way, but especially women. When I was in school I got a lot of slack for being a woman on drums or on guitar. Men go through pressures too, but it's because it's a competitive world, not because they're men. After a while, it doesn't matter how much encouragement you get if your self-esteem is already eroded by sexist comments or jokes. You just have to learn not to personalize it.
ADA: Back to the music, you cover a pretty wide range of styles. Do you have a favorite?
MF: Part of the reason I was drawn to jazz is because it can accommodate many different styles and still be jazz. Of course performers still have to uphold certain technical styles, but as long as you hold to the tradition, you can play a lot of different things and still have it be jazz. I studied classical guitar when I was younger, and loved it, but it didn't allow me the kind of freedom of expression I was looking for.
ADA: Do you have a favorite style to compose in?
MF: I compose across the spectrum. My next album is a Latin jazz influence, so it's got all kinds of stuff in it. As a composer I'm free to draw from many different influences.
ADA: Do you see yourself as following in any particular jazz tradition or just kind of making your own?
MF: I know I've had a lot of different influences, but I think I'm just kind of doing my own thing. I played drums, and I think that gives my guitar playing certain intensity and rhythmical feel. Basically, I try to make a fresh statement, maybe put old music into a new groove. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it new.
ADA: What do you think of the current jazz scene?
MF: There's a nucleus of players in most major cities around the world, even in Europe and Asia. I would still say that New York is the center, but there are great scenes everywhere, and each scene has its own sound. There are young players coming up who are devoted to the music, and the internet is helping to get the music out too. The jazz scene is definitely alive and vibrant.
