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Dred Scott Trio

With his seventh album, jazz pianist Dred Scott and his Trio deliver a hefty helping of the downtown cool that has earned them one of the most fervent followings on the New York jazz scene. Featuring upright bassist and producer Ben Rubin and drummer Tony Mason, Live at the Rockwood, out now on Ropeadope Digital, is a two-session masterpiece which documents the trio’s open-ended engagement (three years and counting) at this popular Lower East Side venue. The record includes six Dred Scott originals as well as covers of artists ranging from saxophonist Bill McHenry to Black Sabbath. All About Jazz declares: “Live at the Rockwood Music Hall is a beautiful showcase of this dynamic piano trio.”

The Dred Scott Trio delivers a cheeky change of pace from the buttoned-up shush-y vibe of the usual jazz club fare. The music itself is heady, jazzy, and deep enough to please the hardest-core jazz fan, yet remains remarkably accessible. Audiences eat up Dred’s unique and compelling piano style and blistering, high-larious verbal “dispatches” from the stage that make the crowd part of the show, and answer in the affirmative Frank Zappa’s classic rhetorical question, “Does humor belong in music?” By 2 am every Tuesday, usually after a swinging treatment of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper” or an R-rated barnburner of Dred’s avant-garde “Mojo Rhythm, Son of Yaah!,” someone’s overheard gurgling, “I used to think jazz sucked, but this ROCKS!” Yes, that same someone invariably throws up, passes out, and gets the boot, but the sentiment remains sincere.

Dred Scott grew up in St. Louis, but honed his chops in the San Francisco Bay Area where he gained a reputation as an innovator and as a leader of the groundbreaking jazz/hip-hop band Alphabet Soup. He has also recorded on nearly 40 albums with the likes of Don Byron, Anthony Braxton, John Adams, Cecil McBee, and Andrew Cyrille, and has performed with Levon Helm, Norah Jones, Joe Henderson, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Bob Weir, Rickie Lee Jones, Moby, the Berkeley Symphony (Kent Nagano), and many more. His trio, which includes his bassist of 12 years, Ben Rubin aka Benny Cha Cha (Mudville, Marshall Crenshaw, Karsh Kale) and drumming phenom Tony Mason (Joan Osborne, Leo Nocentelli, Bo Diddley, Charlie Hunter Trio), recently made their first appearance at the venerated 2008 Newport Jazz Festival and also appear as a jazz trio in the feature film Once More, With Feeling, starring Drea de Matteo, Linda Fiorentino and Chazz Palmenteri, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

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343
Album Review

Dred Scott Trio: Live At The Rockwood Music Hall

Read "Live At The Rockwood Music Hall" reviewed by Christopher Shoe


This album is the Dred Scott Trio's tribute to one of its most frequent gigs in New York. In a city where regular engagements are more and more scarce it is a beautiful thing to see the relationship this band shares with a venue; Live at the Rockwood Music Hall is a beautiful showcase of this dynamic piano trio. Right away the listener is drawn in to the group's lively energy. “Well, You Might" is a solid ...

249
Album Review

Dred Scott Trio: Dred Scott Trio with Kenny Brooks

Read "Dred Scott Trio with Kenny Brooks" reviewed by Terrell Kent Holmes


On first glance, the most striking thing about this disc is the leader's historically significant name, related to a paradigm of injustice that still resonates through the continuum of racism and social reform. But the issue of real name or stage name is quickly made irrelevant by the group's shimmering talent. Another striking thing about the disc is its anachronistic brevity: the disc clocks in at just over 37 minutes. The conciseness and on-point musicality recall a time when jazz ...

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333

Recording

Piano: Sunna Gunnlaugs; Dred Scott Trio

Piano: Sunna Gunnlaugs; Dred Scott Trio

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland

Sunna Gunnlaugs—Long Pair Bond (Sunny Sky, 2011) Icleandic pianist Sunna Gunnlaugs performs her latest album with the help of Porgrimur Jonsson on bass and Scott McLemore on drums. The group works very well together, on first listen it seems to be a self-functioning unit like the Keith Jarrett or Brad Mehldau trios, but closer listening shows the depth and thoughtfulness of the performances. The trio shows a great deal of mindfulness, approaching the music in the present moment and bringing ...

246

Recording

Dred Scott Trio's "Live at the Rockwood Music Hall" is out Now on Ropeadope

Dred Scott Trio's "Live at the Rockwood Music Hall" is out Now on Ropeadope

Source: Jeff Newelt

With his seventh album, jazz pianist Dred Scott and his Trio deliver a hefty helping of the downtown cool that has earned them one of the most fervent followings on the New York jazz scene. Featuring upright bassist and producer Ben Rubin and drummer Tony Mason, Live at the Rockwood Music Hall (Ropeadope), is a two-session masterpiece which documents the trio’s open-ended engagement (three years and counting) at this popular Lower East Side venue. The record includes six Dred Scott ...

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