Jenny Scheinman - violin, Ryan Schaeffer - guitar, Mat Muntz - bass, Scott Amendola - drums/percussion/electronics
Scott Amendola has been a band leader since the late 1990’s. Composing for trio, quartet, quintet, and even has a symphony under his composing belt. The “Anniversary Quartet” is made up of recent and old musical connections. They will celebrate Scott’s history as a composer and a bandleader and draw from his earliest recordings compositions, and newly yet unrecorded pieces of music. With Jenny Scheinman on violin, Ryan Schaeffer on guitar, Mat Muntz on bass, and Scott on drums/percussion/ electronics, the quartet will explore music in a wide and deep range. Never the same twice.
Scott Amendola - Drums/electronics
For Scott Amendola, the drum kit isn’t so much an instrument as a musical portal. An ambitious composer, savvy bandleader and capaciously creative foil for some of the world’s most inventive musicians, Amendola applies his 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 Regina Carter and Jenny Scheinman, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, players who have each forged a singular path within and beyond the realm of jazz.
No project better displays Amendola’s big ears and musical ambitions than “Fade To Orange”, an orchestral piece commissioned as part of the Oakland East Bay Symphony’s Irvine Foundation-funded New Visions/New Vistas initiative. The roiling work premiered to critical acclaim at Oakland’s Paramount Theater on April 15, 2011. As a sideman, Amendola has performed and recorded with a vast, stylistically varied roster of artists, including Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, Mike Patton, Mondo Cane, John Scofield, Cibo Matto, John Dieterich from Deerhoof, Wadada Leo Smith, Bruce Cockburn, Madeleine Peyroux, Joan Osborne, Jacky Terrasson, Shweta Jhaveri, Phil Lesh, Sex Mob, Kelly Joe Phelps, Larry Klein, Carla Bozulich, Wayne Horvitz, Johnny Griffin, Julian Priester, Sonny Simmons, Pat Martino, Jim Campilongo, Bobby Black, Larry Goldings, Paul McCandless, Rebecca Pidgeon, and the Joe Goode Dance Group. Visit www.scottamendola.com for more info.
Jenny Scheinman is a violinist, fiddler, singer, and writer of songs with and without words. She grew up on a homestead in Northern California and has been performing since she was a teenager. She has worked extensively with some of the most innovative jazz artists in the world, such as Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, Jason Moran, Brian Blade, Allison Miller, Nels Cline and Marc Ribot. She has also toured and recorded with numerous American songwriting legends such as Lucinda Williams, Bruce Cockburn, Rodney Crowell, Lou Reed, Joni Mitchell, Robbie Fulks and Ani Difranco.
She is featured on the original cast recording of Anais Mitchell’s hit musical, Hadestown. In March of 2015, she premiered a multimedia performance at Duke University entitled Kannapolis: A Moving Portrait, which she continues to present in theaters around the country. She has been voted the #2 Jazz Violinist worldwide in the Downbeat Critics Poll. She has released eleven albums of original music: All Species Parade, Parlour Game, Here On Earth, The Littlest Prisoner, Mischief & Mayhem, Jenny Scheinman, Crossing The Field, 12 Songs, Shalagaster, The Rabbi’s Lover, and Live At Yoshi’s.
Ryan Schaeffer - guitar
Oakland native guitarist Ryan Schaeffer has played all around the Bay Area and across the globe. Ryan’s unique musical background has influenced his instrumentation, creating a fusion of funk, jazz and gospel that allow him to transcend genre.
Mat Muntz is a composer, bassist, and multi-instrumentalist. Rooted in jazz improvisation and extending through microtonality, non-Western instrumentation, and experimental performance practice, Mat's work seeks to imbue the volatile and bizarre with an expressive, human immediacy. His music has been described in The Wire as “rare and rewarding” and “with a strangeness that is positively thrilling,” and by The Guardian as “filled with a wild, distorted energy.”
After graduating from Manhattan School of Music in 2016, Mat has performed across North America, Europe, and China at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Roulette, Blue Note Beijing, and the Umbria Jazz Festival. His compositions have been premiered at The Shed, Moers Festival, Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, and the 21st Century Guitar Conference. In addition, Mat has been the recipient of awards from Brooklyn Arts Council, the New York Foundation for The Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts, and was invited to participate in the 2022 International Gugak Workshop in Seoul.
Tickets are $30 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.
The Back Room is an all-ages, BYOB (for those 21+) space, dedicated to (mostly) acoustic music of all kinds. You are welcome to bring your own food and beverages. The venue is ADA accessible. If you need more information or have any questions, please call us: #510-381-1997.
Please refrain from using your phone during performances, and if you use your camera or video, please disable the flash.
Although masks are no longer required, we strongly encourage their use to keep everyone safe in our intimate space.
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