DRUMS OUT FRONT

December 2, 2015 | by Rusty Aceves

Scott Amendola

From the time of Cozy Cole, Buddy Rich, Max Roach, and Art Blakey to the present, drummer-led bands have been some of the most exciting groups in jazz. Four spectacular drummer/leaders of today bring their power-packed projects to the Joe Henderson Lab in December. Scott Amendola, Ali Jackson, Kendrick Scott, and Matt Wilson have established themselves among the jazz drumming elite, each possessing a remarkably individual approach to both the instrument and band concept.

Scott Amendola has a résumé that includes collaboration with guitarists Charlie Hunter, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino and Nels Cline, singers Madeleine Peyroux and Norah Jones, and a commission for the Oakland East Bay Symphony, among dozens of others. He was a founding member of the infamous guitars-and-drums project T.J. Kirk, and recorded three Blue Note sessions with Charlie Hunter’s audacious 1990s quartet. Amendola has released ten albums as a leader and his latest, Fade To Orange, is a studio recording of his orchestral commission for the Oakland East Bay Symphony, featuring Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, bassist Trevor Dunn and the Magik*Magik Orchestra. He teams with Hammond B-3 organist Wil Blades for this duet performance. 

Ali Jackson is best known for his long-term tenure as the backbone of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Playing drums at age 2 and piano by 5, Jackson was first exposed to music by his concert pianist mother and his father, acclaimed bassist Ali Jackson Sr., a noted collaborator with John Coltrane and Yusef Lateef. Jackson’s tenure with the LCJO has supercharged his résumé, which includes work with artists ranging from Aretha Franklin and Willie Nelson to Joshua Redman, Bobby McFerrin, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Jackson brings his trio to the Joe Henderson Lab to perform material from his newest Sunnyside release, Amalgamations. 

Named one of the “Five Drummers Whose Time Is Now” by The New York Times, Houston-raised drummer Kendrick Scott is a prodigious musician, composer and bandleader who leads the powerful combo Oracle, and can often be found on the road with SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director Terence Blanchard, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, vocalists Kurt Elling and Gretchen Parlato, and saxophone master Joshua Redman. Scott has released several praised albums with Oracle exploring his own spiritually charged compositions, and these performances in the Joe Henderson Lab mark the release of Scott’s new Oracle recording We Are The Drum, his debut on the Blue Note label. 

With five consecutive DownBeat Critics Poll Rising Star nods and a Best New Artist award from the New York Jazz Critics Circle to his name, drummer, bandleader, educator and composer Matt Wilson is one of the most in-demand musicians in jazz. Upon his arrival in New York, Wilson established a reputation as a peerless bandleader and sideman whose career includes stints with Joe Lovano, Lee Konitz, John Scofield, Charlie Haden, Denny Zeitlin, Jane Ira Bloom and dozens more. He’s recorded a dozen albums under his own name and leads a number of stimulating ensembles including the Matt Wilson Quartet, Arts & Crafts, Trio M, and this decidedly joyous trio project assembled to celebrate the holiday season, Matt Wilson’s Christmas Tree-O.