West Coast drummer Scott Amendola attempts to ‘Fade to Orange’

With the record industry more fractured and risk-averse than ever, crowd-funding websites remain an often viable option for jazz and jazz-adjacent artists.

Recordings by Roswell Rudd, Dave King and Darcy James Argue’s Grammy-nominated “Brooklyn Babylon” are just a few recent endeavours that came to a fruition with fan support, and now Bay Area drummer Scott Amendola is looking for funding to record a debut orchestral piece, “Fade to Orange.”

If you’re a fan of the guitar excursions of Nels Cline you’ve heard Amendola as the longtime pulse for his avant-jazz project the Nels Cline Singers. Not surpisingly, that project’s DNA runs strong through “Fade to Orange,” which premiered with the Oakland East Bay Symphony in 2011.

The 22-minute recording will feature Cline’s squiggly improvisations as well as the Singers’ bassist, Trevor Dunn, alongside San Francisco’s Magik*Magik Orchestra and a bevy of guests, including clarinetist Ben Goldberg. Remixes by Yuka Honda of Cibo Matto, Mocean Worker and Beautiful Bells are also in the works.

Amendola is among the West Coast’s more forward-looking percussionists having recorded rich and rewarding albums as a leader as well as a long and fruitful association with guitarist Charlie Hunter, which has yielded two duet albums in recent years. Hearing him work with an expanded palette should be a pleasure.

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