Amanda Khiri, an informal and formal student of jazz since 12, has finally entered into a marriage of the old and new, both lo, and hi-fi. After a stint as half of the duo of Z&A, a Brooklyn born, electro-soul collaboration with Jake Zavracky in 2013, she started backing up the eclectic afro-funk band, Sinkane; lending her vocals to Sinkane's 2014 critically acclaimed release, Mean Love, and toured internationally for the next album “Life and Livin’ It”. Most recently, she’s written lyrics for Sinkane’s upcoming new album We Belong, and for the first single off that album, '“Everything is Everything”, and is planning to release her own EP in Spring of 2024. Amanda also toured with Luaka Bop's collective nod to William Onyeabor's work, with a project called The Atomic Bomb! Band and recorded with that diverse cast when they made their tribute album.
Amanda has shared stages with David Byrne, Money Mark, Alexis Taylor(Hot Chip), Jamie Lidell, Darius Jones, Jon Cowherd, Danny Fox and Charles Lloyd.
In September of 2016, Amanda produced a second installment of "Women Under The Influence: A Night of Nina Simone", with Jonathan Lam as musical director and a diverse roster of artists like Nancy Whang, Luca Bennedetti, Jon Cowherd, Helado Negro, jaytram and others.
The newest installment of Under The Influence focuses on Marvin Gaye, and is musically directed by Casey Benjamin, with his band of heavy hitters, and singers like Emily Braden, Queen Esther, Ahmed Gallab, Aaron Frazer, Cesar Toribio and Tai Allen.
In the summer of 2017, on a tour break, Amanda collaborated with Phoebe-Collings James on her mixed-media art installation titled "Expensive Shit", shown at the 315 Gallery in New York City. In layering her raw and lush vocals over an expansive aural canvas, she found freedom in adding texture to an already rich sonic environmental piece.
In 2018, Amanda got back in the studio, lending her skills to the rich team of voices including Robyn and Fabiana Palladino on Kindness’ “Something Like A War”.
Amanda Khiri also went back to her jazz roots with a residency at a West Village jazz club, 55 Bar, leading various trios, and playing with folks like Danny Fox, and Younjun Lee.
She appeared in HREAM, an indie documentary about the extraordinary life of Doug Hream Blunt, and is now living in Los Angeles, writing her next piece, and hosting a podcast called, “Oooh, That’s My Part!”, which is a conversation about Amanda’s “favorite parts” of her favorite works of art. It’s a fun time.
To help continue the legacy, Amanda is serious about education and the dissemination of musical traditions, and enjoys being a conduit for that whenever and wherever she can! She founded The Appreciation Association, which focuses on musical immersion and interactive adventures centered around allowing kids from 8 months to 80 years old, to dig deeper into music, or hear it for the first time. Amanda hosts rhythm circles to allow infants to feel rhythm, along with introduction to some of America’s best tunes, usually steeped in the Black American experience. Kids learn roots of their favorite music, and history, that hopefully, they will pass on, as well.