Two of the Bay Area’s finest talents bring their respective bands down the coast for a series of dates, including this one in the intimate lounge of the Knitting Factory. Scott Amendola is one of the finest drummers currently working in improvisational music, and his recent appearance with the Jenny Scheinman Quartet showed him to be a master of color and space. This time out he brings his own quartet, featuring Dave MacNab on guitar (Shelby Lynne’s main
stringman), Eric Crystal on woodwinds and the ever-phenomenal Todd Sickafoose on bass (who also backs singer Venable in her opening set). This is music of depth and emotion, a sonic pleasure that will close your eyes and put a smile on your face.
Noe Venable is a treasure in her own right, with a bluesy soprano voice that gives flight to stories that tend to veer off the center of the singer/songwriter beaten track. With a poet’s eye and keen vision, she has long been one of favorites of our friends to the north. Her southern forays in the past have been aural delights, and she has already staked out a following down here. This is a night of music that may be a bit more challenging than that which you are used to, but believe me, the rewards are more than ample.
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