Scott Amendola’s SticklerPhonics

The brass-powered Berkeley band - Scott Amendola’s SticklerPhonics - explores a world of brass ‘n’ skin possibilities.

Scott Amendola, the drummer, composer and bandleader who’s been a creative force on the Bay Area jazz scene (and far beyond) for the past three decades, knows all about the power of subtraction. His new stripped-down band SticklerPhonics brings together an interesting combo with brass and drums.

The band has plunged into the unmediated terrain that opens up in the absence of the usual guidelines, “a situation where there’s no bass and no chords,” Amendola said. “The sound is ever evolving. We’re really settling in, but there’s also the feeling like there are places to go. I’ve been adding my electronics and I’m just getting started with that exploration in this band.”

With all the players contributing original compositions, SticklerPhonics is a volatile combo that can draw on a vast continuum of jazz practices, from traditional jazz polyphony and ambient soundscapes to funk and free jazz. Amendola, who first gained national attention in the Grammy-nominated three-guitar and drums band T.J. Kirk, has a deep well of experience in unusual instrumental settings. His long-running duo with Hammond B-3 organist Wil Blades got its start when they developed an impressively detailed version of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s late masterpiece Far East Suite.

“SticklerPhonics feels very exposed, but there’s this freedom in being able to accompany each other when we take solos. And Scott is the miracle glue for the whole thing. He’s such a force of nature as a drummer,” says trombonist Danny Lubin-Laden.

Born in New Jersey and long based in Berkeley, Amendola has woven a dense and far-reaching web of bandstand relationships that tie him to leading artists in jazz, blues, rock, new music and beyond. A creative catalyst as a bandleader, composer, and accompanist, he’s collaborated closely with artists such as guitarists Nels Cline, Jeff Parker, John Schott, and Charlie Hunter, organist Wil Blades, violinists Jenny Scheinman and Regina Carter, saxophonists Larry Ochs and Phillip Greenlief, and clarinetist Ben Goldberg, players who’ve all forged singular paths within and beyond the realm of jazz.

He’s led or co-led some two dozen albums and contributed to more than 100 recordings.

Clarinetist/composer Ben Goldberg grew up in Denver. He was a pupil of the eminent clarinetist Rosario Mazzeo and studied with Steve Lacy and Joe Lovano. Since 1992, when his group New Klezmer Trio "kicked open the door for radical experiments with Ashkenazi roots music" (SF Chronicle), Ben has shaped a career through curiosity and experimentation. The New York Times says Ben’s music “conveys a feeling of joyous research into the basics of polyphony and collective improvising.”

Downbeat Magazine has twice named him Rising Star Clarinetist.

Dan White was born in Cleveland, OH, and grew up near Buffalo, New York. He attended The Ohio State University studying music education and jazz performance. During his time in Columbus, Ohio, he met and formed Huntertones and taught middle school band before relocating to New York City in 2014.

White has established himself as a highly collaborative saxophonist and composer currently on tour with Huntertones, Lake Street Dive, Cory Wong, and Kurt Elling SuperBlue featuring Charlie Hunter with recent performances at Bonnaroo, Madison Square Garden, North Sea Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, and on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

A Berkeley native now living in Oakland, Danny Lubin-Laden studied with Art Baron, Lee Konitz, Alan Ferber, and Ambrose Akinmusirie at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. In addition to SticklerPhonics, Danny performs in a wide array of settings, including the Jackie McLean repertory band “Jackknife,” Oakland R&B legend Johnny Talbot and De Thanks, The Electric Squeezebox Orchestra, and Brass Magic, as well as other projects he leads.

Tickets are $25 general admission. Children under 12 are free. Advance tickets are available here, or if the show is not sold out, you may purchase your tickets at the door before the show.

Doors open 30 minutes before show time. We accept cash or Venmo only at the door.
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