An Evening with Pete Amahl

A 2020 inductee into the New Mexico Music Hall of Fame, drummer Pete Amahl is equally adept at playing everything from jazz, to Latin, funk and R&B, to country (he was Junior Brown’s drummer for two decades). He enjoyed a 25-year association with both Eddie Harris and Mose Allison and has played with numerous artists including Frank Morgan, Herb Ellis, Richie Cole, Greg Abate, Natalie Cole, Doug Lawrence and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis. A founding member of The New Mexico Jazz Workshop in 1975, Pete currently curates and performs in the Taos Jazz Bebop Society’s “New Mexico Jazz Artists” series on Sunday afternoons. He also hosts a radio show, “The Night Visitor,” Monday evenings, 4-6pm on KRMD-LP 96.9FM (in Madrid where he lives and has been unofficially dubbed by many, the Mayor of Madrid). A true New Mexico jazz icon and a teacher of so many drummers in the state, at 81 years old he still “swings his ass off.” Joining Pete in the rhythm section is Bevan Manson, piano; and Gordon Johnson, bass. In addition, it’s Paul Gonzales on trumpet, and Kanoa Kaluhiwa on tenor saxophone.