Alone With Dred Scott

Alone With Dred Scott

Bruce Von Stiers

Dred Scott has recorded with Bob Minter, Paul McCandress and many other names in jazz. He's performed with Arlo Guthrie, Norah Jones and Ricky Lee Jones. Dred has also recorded as a band leader and solo artist.

Dred has a brand new album out. On this album he plays all of the instruments. Appropriately, the title of the album is Dred Scott Rides Alone. Dred wrote all of the songs on the album except one.

The album was produced Dred and Denny Abrams. It contains eight songs and has a play time of forty-eight minutes. The album is being released by Ropeadope, whose current roster of artists include Ramsey Lewis and Tim Ries.

For the album, Dred plays the piano, keyboards and bass. He also plays the drums and shaker.

Coal Creek Road is the first song. It is a nice song with slight toe-tapping beat. The song has piano as the lead, with some drums, bass and shaker for background.

The beginning of Wonder evokes visions of dancing by yourself in a light snowfall. Then it moves into a bit of more of a standard piano and bass jazz piece.

Gateway is a kind of light groove piece. It kind reminded me a little of Vince Guaraldi.

Flying Bighorn begins as a drum based piece, then segues into more of a piano piece.

Remember, PN was a song written and recorded by Eric Crystal. It was on his album, Dark Matter. Dred actually played piano on that song for Eric. On this album Dred puts a bit of his own spin on the song. It has a bit faster pace than the original. Nicely done, though.

Consolations is a light piece with terrific piano fronting some cool bass.

Wild Turkeys is a kind of smile effecting groove with some slick piano and bass.

Goodbye, America is the final song on the album. It has great piano in front of a nice array of bass and drums.

Playing all the instruments on an album is nothing new. Artists have been doing it for a long time. But Dred Scott puts his own unique spin on the solo recording process. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this album, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Dred melds each of the instruments into a cohesive sound, that if you didn't know better, would assume came from a full band.

Dred Scott Rides Alone is available on amazon. Spotify and other music outlets.

You will find Dred Scott's official site at https://www.dredscott.com/ And if you're interested in checking out the catalog of the Ropeadope record label, their web site is https://ropeadope.com/

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