Jim Campilongo - guitar
Sam Reider - accordion and piano
Mat Muntz - bass
Scott Amendola - drums

SPAGHETTI is an electrifying instrumental quartet of Bay Area musicians featuring guitarist Jim Campilongo, accordionist/pianist Sam Reider, drummer Scott Amendola, and bassist Mat Muntz. Original compositions by Campilongo and Reider collide with tunes by Duke Ellington, Astor Piazzolla, Hank Williams and beyond.

SAM REIDER is a Latin GRAMMY-nominated pianist, accordionist, composer, and educator from San Francisco, California. His work brings together various streams of American music, from jazz and folk tunes to popular song and contemporary composition. He has appeared as a bandleader and soloist at major festivals and venues around the world and his performances and original compositions have been featured on NPR, PBS and the BBC. Reider has performed, recorded and collaborated with a range of artists including Jon Batiste, Jorge Glem, Sierra Hull, Laurie Lewis, and Paquito d’Rivera. From his genre-bending acoustic ensemble The Human Hands to his duo collaboration with Grammy-nominated Venezuelan artist Jorge Glem, Reider’s unique compositional voice and melodicism runs throughout his eclectic projects. His 2022 solo piano record of original music Petrichor received four stars and made the Best of 2022 in Downbeat Magazine. Reider and Glem’s album, Brooklyn-Cumaná, was featured on NPR’s Tiny Desk and was nominated for Best Instrumental Album in the 2023 Latin GRAMMY Awards. In addition to his work as a performer, Reider is a prolific composer and has worked with a variety of chamber ensembles and artists ranging from the Bay Area’s Del Sol Quartet to Grammy-nominated soloist Tessa Lark.

Billboard Magazine calls JIM CAMPILONGO “an American treasure,” an accolade which this guitarist’s artistry and influential career has richly earned him. TIMEOUTNYC describes Campilongo perfectly: ”New York has no shortage of guitar heroes but few cover as many bases as Jim Campilongo reveals a range that extends from seductive country-swing to atmospheric jazz and well beyond.” and the NEW YORKER says, “There it was again: the stinging treble, the spooky overtones, the strings snapping and booming under his hands the sound of a Tele being played as skillfully and exuberantly as it can be played it sounded like nothing and nobody else sounded like Jim Campilongo.” With eleven albums of original material and guest appearances on dozens of recordings — from the Bammie-winner’s contribution on Cake’s million-selling Prolonging the Magic to (most recently) doing lead guitar duties with The Little Willies, his band with Norah Jones — Campilongo has played with JJ Cale, Al Anderson, Gillian Welch/David Rawlings, Peter Rowan, Martha Wainwright, Bright Eyes, Teddy Thompson, and Burning Spear to name a few, has earned two Gold Records.

For SCOTT AMENDOLA, the drum kit isn’t so much an instrument as a musical portal. As an ambitious composer, savvy bandleader, electronics explorer, first-call accompanist and capaciously creative foil for some of the world’s most inventive musicians, Amendola applies his wide-ranging rhythmic virtuosity to a vast array of settings. His closest musical associates include guitarists Charlie Hunter, Nels Cline, and Jeff Parker, Hammond B-3 organist Wil Blades, violinist Jenny Scheinman, saxophonist Phillip Greenlief, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, bassists Trevor Dunn, and Todd Sickafoose, players who have each forged a singular path within and beyond the realm of jazz. While rooted in the San Francisco Bay Area scene, Amendola has woven a dense and far-reaching web of bandstand relationships that tie him to influential artists in jazz, blues, rock and new music. A potent creative catalyst, the Berkeley-based drummer is the nexus for a disparate community of musicians stretching from Los Angeles and Seattle to Chicago and New York. Whatever the context, Amendola possesses a gift for twisting musical genres in unexpected directions. Over a career spanning more than three decades, Amendola has forged deep ties across the country, and throughout the world. As an ambitious composer, savvy bandleader, electronics explorer, first-call accompanist, and capaciously creative foil for some of the world’s most inventive musicians, Amendola applies his wide-ranging rhythmic virtuosity to a vast array of settings.

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 $25 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.

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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.

Thank you for your support!

Contact the host of SPAGHETTI