Since landing in San Francisco in 1992, Scott Amendola has been nominated for a Grammy with the band T.J. Kirk, recorded three records with Charlie Hunter for Blue Note, toured the world and appeared on national television with The Charlie Hunter Quartet, formed his own inventive, house-packing quintet, and has recorded or performed with dozens of musicians, including Bill Frisell, John Zorn, Tony Furtado, Noe Venable and Jacky Terrasson, among many others. Amendola’s inspiration stems from such stylistic influences as African music, jazz, blues, spirituals, rock, and the avant garde. Scott has never been satisfied with just being a masterful drummer. He has spent his career pushing music in new directions; most notably with his latest project: The Scott Amendola Band, for which the bandleader composes and arranges all the music. The self-titled debut CD features Jenny Scheinman on violin, guitarist Dave Mac Nab, bassist Todd Sickafoose, and Eric Crystal on reeds. Scott’s music ranges from hard-hitting grooves to lush ballads, and from his original compositions to covers by such artists as Jimi Hendrix, Fela, and Nick Drake.
“One thing for certain, the music doesn’t sound quite like anything else,” describes Steven Raphael of Modern Drummer magazine. “There is a phenomenal interaction of five distinct musical voices. Amendola and his hand-picked crew take responsive improvisation to new heights.” For Amendola, “it’s all about improvisation and opening up the music so that anything can happen.” Just as importantly, Scott strives to create a “band sound,” a oneness among the players that at once challenges and complements each musician. Once the band is in that deep pocket, the audience can’t help feeling it.
In addition to his own new release, some other recent recordings that Scott can be heard on are: The Nels Cline Singers Instrumentals (Cryptogramophone), Jenny Scheinman Quartet Live at Yoshi’s (Tzadik), The Tony Furtado Band (Cojema), Jim Campilongo’s Live at the Du Nord (Ethic), Noe Venable’s Boots (Petrydish), Paul Sprawl’s Blue Suitcase (Intuition), and Paul Plimley’s Safe-Crackers (Victo). Over the past ten years Scott has toured, recorded, or performed with Bill Frisell, Dave Liebman, John Zorn, Wadada Leo Smith, Jacky Terrasson, Shweta Jhaveri, Larry Goldings, Sex Mob, Robin Holcomb and the Joe Goode Dance Group, Wayne Horvitz, Johnny Griffin, Viktor Krauss, Paul Plimley, Tony Furtado, Jack Walrath, Julian Priester, Sonny Simmons, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Pat Martino, Nels Cline, Peter Apfelbaum, Jim Campilongo, Bobby Black, Paul McCandless, Ben Goldberg, Mark Turner, Michael Franti, Primus, Nina Hagen, Phil Lesh, Leight and Matt from Six Pence None the Richer, and others, and has toured extensively throughout Europe, North America, and Australia.
Scott Amendola drums
Scott Amendola plays in
