Media

Dred Scott Pianist

dred grew up in st. louis, went to college in ohio, then lived in the bay area for 10 years. there he gained a reputation as an innovative and eclectic pianist and multi-instrumentalist. some highlights: recorded 10 self-produced cd’s as a leader and has performed on over 40 others. co-founder of the ground breaking hip-hop jazz group, alphabet soup. recorded with anthony braxton, cecil mcbee, andrew cyrille, joe morello, charlie hunter, bob mintzer, dave samuels, don byron, paul mccandless, marshall crenshaw and has performed with zigaboo modeliste, steve smith, mike clark, the paul dresher ensemble, liza minelli, courtney love, pete seager, arlo guthrie, levon helm, patti smith, norah jones, moby, bob weir, joe henderson, the berkeley symphony (kent nagano), ricky lee jones, dave garibaldi, larry schneider, dave schnitter, nina hagen, mary k. blige, alan cumming, chris tucker and milla jojovich.

based in new york city since 1999. regularly performs with jay collins and the kings co. band, carol lipnik and spookarama and the bari koral family band. produced award winning recording, rock and roll garden, for the bari koral family band. produced the first recording of country joe and the fish bassist, bruce barthol, the delcine and fall of everything. composed music for film, home, starring woody allen, liam neeson, mike myers, susan sarandon, al molina, rosie perez, colin quinn and fran leibowitz. composed music for choreographers, alan danielson, mary lisa burns, maxine steinman, squad and jo kreiter from zaccho. worked for choreographers margaret jerkins, joe goode, oberlin dance collective, mark morris and merce cunningham. worked as a dance accompanist for the juilliard school, mark morris dance school, barnard college, the ailey school, jose limon, the joffrey ballet school, the frank sinatra school for the performing arts, the new school, nyu, marymount manhattan college, fieldston, and long island university. composed music and perfomed in 6 san francisco mime troupe productions. performed in film, once more with feeling, with linda fiorentio and chazz palmenteri. produced carol lipnik recording, M.O.T.H.

  1. 2011

    mc extra cheese and the dred scott trio - prepare for blast-off

    mcec sits in with the trio regularly at our tuesday nite gig in manhattan at the rockwood music hall (5 years, running). this record documents some of the best moments.

    carol lipnik and spookarama - M.O.T.H.

    producer, piano, organ melodica, electric guitar, bass and drums. carol sings her crazy coney island monster music. it is the best record i've done to date.

    dred scott - prepared piano

    solo piano. live improvisations.

    dred scott trio - going nowhere

    another self-produced trio studio recording. ben rubin, bass. tony mason, drums. all original tunes except for 7 steps to heaven.

  2. 2010

    richard julian - girls need attention

    melodica, pianet, organ and wurly. more great songs from richard. lee alexander produced.

    the bari koral family rock band - rock 'n' roll garden

    producer, bass, vocals, organ melodica, accordion top ten kid's records of 2010 - time out new york winner of nappa gold award parent's choice award - silver medal

  3. 2008

    bruce barthol - the decline and fall of everything

    my first job as a producer. bruce is the original bassist for country joe and the fish (fixin' to die rag), the main songwriter and musical director for the san francisco mime troupe for the past 35 years and he is also a good friend. this ten song collection spans subjects from the spanish civil war to closing steelplants to dying texas towns. evangelism, break-up and romance. with diego voglino, dan rieser, liberty ellman and carol lipnik. i play piano, organ and bass.

  4. 2007

    jay collins and the kings co. band - the songbird and the pigeon

    piano and electric piano. with diego voglino, tim luntzel, scott sharrard and moses patrou. 'jay's soulful croak deserves to be heard.' time out new york

    the dred scott trio - live at the rockwood music hall

    the trio had been playing at the rockwood every tuesday nite at midnite for three years when ken rockwood suggested we make a record. this is it. mostly original tunes. also tunes by bill mchenry, black sabbath and ernie krivda. ben rubin, bass. tony mason, drums.

    mc extra cheese - 86gl

    played keys, bass and guitar on the hilarious and clever rapper's debut produced by nappy g who i met when alphabet soup used to come to new york and play at the cooler with groove collective back in the day. there are no guest mc's on this album. just lots of great raps about bitches, drugs, sex and senseless violence.

    Long Distance (director: nelson kim)

    film score composer/bassist/producer

  5. 2006

    blue state band

    played piano on this debut record by new england country band.

    richard julian - slow new york

    piano, organ, melodica. brad jones produced. norah jones and lee alexander produced two songs. with kenny wollesen, dan reiser, tim luntzel, tony sher , andy borger and jim campilongo. another great collection of songs by richard.

  6. 2005

    president's breakfast - formidable foe

    another dubtastic adventure from click dard. i contribute a little writing, some vocals, probably some keyboards and massive herb consumption.

    carol lipnik - cloud girl

    organ, electric bass, piano, percussions and melodica. quirky, coney island, voodoo mermaid music.

  7. 2004

    the jay collins band - poem for you today

    piano, organ, keyboard. tom waits meets louis armstrong meets taj meets the allman bros. time out new york said, 'jay's soulful croak deserves to be heard.' this is a fun band. good times.

    woodbach

    gaelan mckenna's self produced 'collage of sounds combining elements of world, ambient and jazz music.' i play acoustic and electric piano on 3 cuts.

    the living room - live in nyc

    piano and organ with richard juliian on 3 songs.

    dred scott trio with kenny brooks

    after i moved to nyc i continued to return to san fran to perform. on one of those trips in 2002, kenny wollesen was playing at yoshi's w/ bill frisell the same time wilbur krebs and i were in town. i set up a session at an emeryville studio adding kenny brooks and this is the result. two tunes by wilbur. two by me.

  8. 2003

    mudville - the glory of man is not in vogue

    piano. down tempo, moody, buddha music created by marilyn carino and ben rubin.

    marshall crenshaw

    played a farfisa solo on one tune. loved the session. marshall is the coolest.

  9. 2001

    III C

    arranged a section of a love supreme and played clavinet on a tune. more funky dub from click dark.

    gaelan mckenna - off the continent

    self-produced 'combination of african field recordings and urban grooves.' piano on a few cuts. played my best ever on gbeya blues (mp3).

  10. 1999

    Makana

    i never actually met this guy. howard johnson from different fur asked me to overdub some piano on one cut. makana is a slat-key guitarist from hawaii.

  11. 1998

    bob brumbeloe - who knew?

    piano on two cuts.

    eric crystal - dark matter

    self-produced recording of originals by young bay area saxophonist.

  12. 1997

    joel harrison octet - range of motion

    piano - kind of a world music thing with paul mccandless, elliot kavee, eric crystal, derek jones, marty wehner, russ gold and julian gerstin. joel's music can be intricate as well as beautiful and spiritual.

  13. 1995

    alphabet soup - layin' low in the cut

    keyboards. 
the only full-length recording of the soup. two studio cuts and the rest is live. sf bammie winner, best urban contemporary recording.

    president's breakfast - barbecue dali

    piano, melodica
. an improvised music recording with wil bernard, gtr., nate (the shit) pitts, bass, don byron, clar., and bass clar., and click himself on drums and percussion.

    president's breakfast - doo process

    keyboards. 
click dark's second recording with this project, the first available only on vinyl. he does a nice job with a tune from my first recording and in addition to his own nutty compositions does an arrangement of a wil bernard tune. more funky, dubby, crunchy, ganky insanity.

    up and down club sessions vol. 2

    jj asked me to write a couple of tunes for a group of his choosing that included kenny brooks, josh jones, charlie hunter, geoff brennan and myself on piano. it could be the only recording of charlie just playing the guitar. don cherry also guests. winner sf bammie, best jazz recording.

  14. 1994

    consolidated - business of punishment

    supplied a little clavinet gownk on a couple tunes.

    robert hohner percussion ensemble - the gamut

    piano
. features dave samuels on one of his tunes and joe morello playing 
blue rondo a la turk (the tune my brother and i used to practice incessantly to drive my mother mad) and the first tune i ever learned, take five. other selections include an amazing piece for sextet and eight chromatic drums that the soloist made himself and a steve reich piece called pieces of wood.

    steve horowitz - the code

    keyboards
. wacky bay area outsters ralph carney, willy winant and myles boisen contribute. the jean baudrillard quote in the liner notes says it better than i could, "today, the real and the imaginary are confounded in the same operational totality.....it is an aestheitc reality via the anticipation and the eminence of the code."

  15. 1993

    the love posse w/ moe dark - mcgarret is a verb

    percussion, background vocals, samples and keyboards
. quirkie, funky, laswell meets sly meets beefheart w/ dub.
this guys name is bill langton but he goes by click dark. 
moe is his crooning brother.

    robert hohner percussion ensemble - liftoff

    piano and celeste
. features bob mintzer
selections include a marimba arrangement of barber's adagio for strings, tunes by eddie palmieri and pat metheny and the incredible title track for nine bass drums.

    up and down club session vol. 1

    keyboards on two tunes w/ alphabet soup. 
other acts: the dry look, will bernard trio, josh jones latin jazz ensemble, charlie hunter trio. 
produced by jj morgan.

  16. 1991

    anthony braxton - 8+3 tristano compositions

    anthony braxton - alto, sopranino and flute
 jon raskin - bari
cecil mcbee - bass andrew cyrille - drums dred - piano i wanted to do one of the duets over. we only did two takes of every tune. mr. braxon said to me, 'mr. scott, we are not robots.'

  17. christopher dallman - race the light

    piano on the young singer/songwriter's debut record.

Ben Rubin Bass

Ben Rubin (aka Benny Cha Cha) is a bassist, producer and mixer who easily transcends musical styles. From performing at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Cannes Film Festival with Dred Scott Trio to producing remixes for Killah Priest and Karsh Kale, Ben is comfortable in any musical setting. He has played and recorded with artists as diverse as Marshall Crenshaw, downtown saxophonist Michael Blake, bluegrass band King Wilke, alt-country darlings Luther Wright and the Wrongs, and his own genre-bending band Mudville (winner of a 2008 Independent Music Award for Electronica Song of the Year).

He is currently the staff producer and mix engineer for the Smalls Live record label where he has produced records with many jazz greats including Louis Hayes, Seamus Blake, Bruce Barth, Chris Potter, Ari Hoenig, Mulgrew Miller and many other. He recently composed and recorded the scores for two short films, "Long Distance" and "The Other Way Round"

  1. 2011

    stripmall ballads - hooked

    producer/performer/mixer

    dred scott trio - standards 2010

    bassist/co-producer/mixer

    dred scott trio - going nowhere

    bassist/co-producer/mixer

    bruce barth trio - live at smalls

    co-producer/mixer

  2. 2010

    jeremy pelt & louis hayes - live at smalls

    co-producer/mixer

    ben wolfe quintet - live at smalls

    co-producer/mixer

    omer avital - live at smalls

    co-producer/mixer

    jimmy greene quartet - live at smalls

    co-producer/mixer

    ari hoenig and punk bop - live at smalls

    co-producer/mixer

    mc extra cheese & the dred scott trio - prepare for blast off

    producer/bass/mixer

    carol lipnik and spookarama - M.O.T.H.

    mixer

    seamus blake quintet - live at smalls

    mixer

  3. 2009

    marshall crenshaw - jaggedland

    bassist

  4. 2008

    the other way round

    composer/producer for film score. directed by geoff quan.

  5. 2007

    Rawkus 50 Presents Where You Are - Doulah Raze

    bassist

    Mudville - Iris Nova

    producer/performer/composer. winner of 2008 independent music award

  6. 2006

    karsh kale - manifest, remix

    remixer

  7. 2005

    brazillian girls - pussy

    remixer

    mudville - the glory of man is not in vogue

    producer/performer/composer

  8. 2004

    chris brown & kate fenner - go on

    bassist

    marshall crenshaw featuring keva hargrove - my favorite waste of time

    producer

  9. 2003

    killah priest - when i'm writing & dejavu

    remixer

    luther wright and the wrongs - goodbye blue sky

    remixer

  10. 2002

    mudville - ep

    producer/performer/composer

  11. 2001

    chris brown & kate fenner - o witness

    bassist

    chris brown & kate fenner - great lakes bootleg

    bassist

  12. 2000

    art hirahara - edge of this earth

    bassist

  13. 1999

    ron graham - ron graham's corner pocket featuring bruce forman

    bassist

Tony Mason drums

Drummer Tony Mason grew up in Southern Pines, North Carolina and started playing percussion at age seven. After studying at East Carolina University for one year, Tony moved to NYC in 1986 to finish his education at The Manhattan School Of Music. He came to receive a performance degree in classical percussion and became very active in the jazz program. Tony recently appeared on the track "Thinking About You" on Norah Jones' latest release, Not Too Late. He has backed numerous artists on various TV shows including David Letterman, American Love Story on PBS, Craig Kilborn, and The View. He has also played on tracks for commercials for Nike, Vila, Coca-Cola, NBA, WNBA, and yes, Viagra!

Tony Mason has worked with many top producers including Nile Rodgers, Camu Celli, Ron Saint Germain and Russ Titelman. He has toured and/or recorded with Norah Jones, Martha Wainwright, Cyril Neville, Joan Osborne, Paula Cole, Charlie Hunter,Bernie Worrell,Bill Sims Jr.,Bo Diddley,Leo Nocentelli,Adam Levy,Jim Campilongo,Natalie Cole,Neil Sedaka, and many others. An interesting side note is that Tony's brother-in-law is the legendary funk drummer, Zigaboo Modeliste.