Amendola vs. Blades vs. John Schott

Wil Blades and Scott Amendola conjure various sonic deities though only a duo. Their live shows have been generating a buzz around the Bay Area. The two got their start as a group when Scott had the vision of performing Duke Ellington's "Far East Suite" in duo with Wil. While quite a daunting task translating a suite (originally written for a big band) into duo, the Hammond Organ had previously been used in the 1940's and 1950's to emulate the sound of big bands. With Wil's knowledge of this tradition and Scott's desire to push boundaries, they were able to pull it off in a explorative, yet cohesive manner. The duo continues to perform the Ellington suite in their live performances, while also developing their original material. In performance, Amendola and Blades cover everything from Avant Garde to Funk, Bebop to Rock.

"Lean and mean, the AMENDOLA vs. BLADES duo has firmly established itself as one of the liveliest acts in the Bay Area"- Forrest Dylan Bryant Jazz Observer online

Guitarist John Schott is a founding member of the legendary bay area band TJ Kirk. John has worked with the likes of John Zorn, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Trevor Dunn and Ben Goldberg.  More...

Ornettology Side Three

About Ornettology

Ornettology is the brainchild of guitarist Myles Boisen, presenting unique arrangements of compositions by Ornette Coleman utilizing free ranging jazz landscapes, funky grooves, and harmolodic improvisation. The ensemble has featured many Bay Area creative music luminaries, including Steve Adams, Phillip Greenlief, John Finkbeiner, John Hanes, Chris Grady, and Lisa Mezzacappa.  More...

Turning Into A Butterfly - Zachary Ostroff & Scott Amendola

Is this rock’n’roll? Is it jazz? Is it Japanese, electronic Zydeco music? Turning Into A Butterfly is a metamorphosis (or should we say, meta-bro-phosis) of the dual forces of Scott Amendola and Zach Ostroff. Their original compositions for finding love in a disastrous world, back-to-back covers of Britney Spears and Ray Charles, World War II ballads, and spontaneously improvised soundscapes coalesce into streams of constantly-evolving, heartfelt, booty-grooving music.

When you read how Wikipedia defines Scott Amendola as a drummer, electronic musician, and orchestral composer as “central to the Bay Area music scene,” a certain degree of skepticism is understandable. But when you hear him play, you hear a drum master whose virtuosity only serves his desire to create genuinely felt music; his music transforms the desire for answers into a seeking of questions.
How do we define Zach Ostroff? “Bassist? Guitarist? Singer? Film composer?” He answers these questions with his latest obsession, the Bass VI, an historically neglected instrument that is precisely one octave lower than a standard guitar. Wielding this axe, he turns into bassist/guitarist/vocalist/sonic-explorer all at once.

Humans can find great joy in the most epic and trying of times. Sometimes, all it takes is the mutual trust of two musical risk-takers. That is what Turning into a Butterfly hopes to find.  More...