Philadelphia jazz artists, Bigtruck, emerged from a piano based quartet with urban sound sensibilities, into a drum, bass,
sax trio launching bright and twisted aural trajectories that curve there and back. After losing their pianist in early 2004, and
without a chordal instrument, they set about finding other ways to nail chords together, hit sevenths, and otherwise
trans’lectrify. Bigtruck took to the streets and stages of coffee shops, jazz festivals, alt/jazz mecca Tonic, The Khyber &
other Philly venues, numerous arts productions, benefits, and collaborations with Moxie Dance Collective, vocalist Monica
Macintyre and explored improvisation with members of Headlong Dance Theater.
Mark Monteith took to the electric guitar after some less than impressive stints on piano and violin, later drawn to the
versatility & atmosphere of the upright acoustic bass. Surrounded by all kinds of music, he started composing in the mid
eighties. Mark wrote and improvised live soundscapes for Pig Iron Theater Company’s “Anodyne”, winner of the Barrymore
Award for best sound design, and with Moxie Dance Collective at The Arts Bank, Painted Bride and Kimmel Center. He has
played guitar, drums and bass in experimental, indie and jazz projects, plucked with Amy Pickard and the Cradlers, studied
Gnawan rhythms, and performed revving the engine of a sixty ton crane with members of Kronos Quartet at the Colly Soleri
Music Center at Arcosanti.
