LIVE at Piedmont Piano Company
Wil Blades & Scott Amendola
Wil Blades on Hammond organ delivers cutting solos and deep bass lines that make for a thick stew of soulful harmony and daring improvisation, while Scott Amendola behind the drum kit creates beats that are simply unstoppable, simultaneously pushing the duo to heights unknown and sending the listener into a joyful sonic trance.
$25 General Admission
We are offering a limited number of tickets to attend this performance in person. Advance purchase is required. COVID-19 SAFETY: All ticket holders must wear a mask while inside the piano store.
WIL BLADES
Since he took up residency at John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom Room in San Francisco when he was barely old enough to enter the club, Wil Blades has garnered international recognition as one of his generation’s leading organ players. The organ has not always been Blades’ instrument of choice. He began playing drums at the age of 8 and switched to guitar at 13. When he discovered the Hammond B-3 at 19 there was no doubt that he’d found his voice.
He’s been called “the future” by one of the instrument’s masters, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and perennially tops the “Rising Star – Organ” category in the renowned DownBeat Critics’ Poll. Blades has performed and recorded with a wide range of artists including John Lee Hooker, John Scofield, Nicholas Payton, Bernard Purdie, The Headhunters, Joe Louis Walker, Idris Muhammad, Adam Deitch, Karl Denson, Donald Harrison Jr, Scott Amendola, Billy Martin and Stanton Moore. wilblades.com
SCOTT AMENDOLA
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. His closest musical associates include guitarists Nels Cline, Jeff Parker, Charlie Hunter, Hammond B-3 organist Wil Blades, violinists Jenny Scheinman and Regina Carter, saxophonists Larry Ochs and Phillip Greenlief, and clarinetist Ben Goldberg, players who have each forged a singular path within and beyond the realm of jazz.
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. scottamendola.com