Monterey 2009: Scott Amendola Trio
Scott Amendola / John Shifflett / Jeff Parker
Taking his band for a final shakedown cruise before heading into the recording studio on Monday, drummer Scott Amendola kick-started the 52nd annual Monterey Jazz Festival with an energetic and inventive set in the room known as the “Night Club.”
The group, a pared-down version of the adventurous Scott Amendola Band, started out with a cool stroll (“Lima Bean”) with a Wes Montgomery-like slide. But just when the early-evening crowd was lulled into a false sense of security, the trio lurched leftward and outward, charging headlong into avant-rock territory, Jeff Parker’s guitar slashing and scribbling within Amendola’s all-enveloping drum cyclone.
Those brave souls who didn’t run for the exits at this point were taken on one heck of a ride. Amendola moved effortlessly from in-the-pocket grooves to wild abstraction, occasionally abandoning the drums entirely in favor of an electronics rig, injecting alien burblings or robotic murmurs.
Making liberal use of effects, Parker laid down a series of calmly lyrical guitar lines, only to twist them ever so gently into four-dimensional shapes. Bassist John Shifflett provided a sort of pivot for the music, sticking to a more standard jazz framework but slipping easily into and out of the more esoteric sections.
“Blues for a Grand Bazaar,” marking a shift from the set’s intense first half to its mellower conclusion, was a moody highlight, introspective and dreamlike. Amendola played only the sparest rhythms as Shifflett’s full, resonant bass came to the fore and Parker turned in his most enticing work of the night.
I’ll be watching for that CD. It’s sure to turn some heads.
Filed Under: MJF/52 - 2009 • Monterey Jazz Festival
