World class drummer and Bay Area luminary Scott Amendola has been a friend of KALX DJ Sex 14’s for over 26 years. In that time they have tried many times to DJ together but their schedules never matched up… until now.
Join Sex 14’s this Wednesday, October 16th from noon to 3pm as he and Scott discuss Amendola’s many influences – from Jack DeJohnette to AC/DC – and the various currents in music that combined to inform his eclectic and all-embracing musical journey. Scott will retrace his steps from his childhood in New Jersey, to studying at the Berklee School of Music in Boston to working with Nels Cline, Carla Bozulich, Charlie Hunter and dozens of jazz and improvised music icons from the Bay Area and beyond.
For Scott Amendola, the drum kit isn’t so much an instrument as a musical portal. As an ambitious composer, savvy bandleader, electronics explorer, first-call accompanist and capaciously creative foil for some of the world’s most inventive musicians, Amendola applies his wide-ranging rhythmic virtuosity to a vast array of settings.
While rooted in the San Francisco Bay Area scene, Amendola has woven a dense and far-reaching web of bandstand relationships that tie him to influential artists in jazz, blues, rock and new music. A potent creative catalyst, the Berkeley-based drummer is the nexus for a disparate community of musicians stretching from Los Angeles and Seattle to Chicago and New York. Whatever the context, Amendola possesses a gift for twisting musical genres in unexpected directions.
Photo: Lenny Gonzalez