dred scott

Dred Scott’s label referred to him as the 'maestro of mayhem' in his earlier years with them. And Dred has the resume to back it up - He's played and recorded with a long list of diverse artists - Liza Minelli, Courtney Love, Anthony Braxton, Pete Seeger, Nina Hagen, Patti Smith, Zigaboo Modeliste, Joe Henderson, Joe Morello, Andrew Cyrille, Moby and Ricki Lee Jones. He's produced 10 records of his own (5 for Ropeadope) and his trio played the Rockwood Music Hall every Tuesday night at midnight for nearly a decade.  In the last ten years, Dred has slowed down, working as the house pianist for Del Posto for 8 years and now the house pianist and music director for the private Shaun Hergatt restaurant in 432 Park. This new project marks the return of Dred to the clubs.

"...a sly, pianist raconteur."   NY Times

"A disciple of psychedelic subterfuge, coupled with post-cool intensity."  SF Weekly

Saxophonist and composer Eric Crystal has been a mainstay of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene more than 25 years. An immensely innovative, versatile and melodic improviser, Crystal has been an integral part of the Boz Scaggs touring band since 2002. Playing soprano, alto, tenor and baritone sax, Crystal also plays keyboards, melodica, and acoustic and electric guitar. He has been featured on the legendary musician’s latest release Fool To Care which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues charts, as well as Scaggs’ two collections of standards - Speak Low and But Beautiful - Standards Volume 1.

In addition to Boz Scaggs, Crystal has performed or recorded with Michael McDonald, Huey Lewis, Toto, The Temptations, Four Tops, Kenny Loggins, Allen Toussaint, Zigaboo Modeliste, Darlene Love, Bob Weir, Pancho Sanchez, Arturo Sandoval, Ray Obiedo, Omar Sosa, Clark Terry, Michael Wolff, Mike Clark, Vijay Iyer, Liberty Ellman, Jazz Mafia, Dumstaphunk, Scott Amendola, Joel Harrison, Mark Levine, Kitty Margolis, Regina Carter, Charlie Hunter, Alphabet Soup, Steve Smith, and Paul McCandless.

John Wiitala has worked with some of the greatest names in jazz, including Joe Henderson, Junior Cook, Charlie Rouse, James Moody, Bud Shank, and Cecil Payne. He has toured with Richie Cole, Arturo Sandoval, Shorty Rogers, and Jessica Williams, and has played at jazz festivals around the world, including Monterey, North Sea, Montreux, Detriot, and JVC/Concord. His recording credits include work with Scott Hamilton, Jessica Williams, Mark Levine, as well as Anton Schwartz.

Drummer/Vibraphonist/Saxophonist Smith Dobson V has been performing in the Bay Area for nearly twenty years. Originally from Santa Cruz, Ca., Dobson is a member of an important Jazz family. His father, the late Smith Dobson IV, was a world renown Pianist and director of the Jazz series at the Garden City in San Jose for over twenty years, where he accompanied artists' like Art Pepper, Stan Getz, Bobby Hutcherson, Harold Land, Chet Baker, Red Norvo, Tal Farlow, and Lee Konitz.

Smith got his first shot on a major stage sitting in with his parents at the Monterey Jazz Festival at age 11, and at age 15, led his own band at the MJF, under the first year of director Tim Jackson, who said, "Not only does Smith have the musical expertise to play the MJF, he has the leadership qualities to make it work. His arrangements are outstanding and uniquely his own."

Smith has had the honor of working with some of the great Jazz artists, locally and internationally, such as Bobby Hutcherson, Red Rodney, John Handy, Sheila Jordan, Red Holloway, Pete and Conte Condoli, Phillip Harper, Hal Stein, Noel Jewekes, Ben Goldberg, Graham Connahs' Sour Note Seven, Darren Johnstone, Will Bernard, and Kenny Brooks. In 2000, Smith was asked by percussionist William Wynant to join him and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players to perform works by composers Charles Mingus and Anthony Davis, (who performed with the group on his own compositions), for a concert at the Yerba Buena Theater. Smith was also a member of the Ska/Punk/Rock band the Square Roots in the mid 90s'.

About dred scott

Dred grew up in St. Louis and went to college in Ohio to study piano and composition with Pat Pace. But it is the San Francisco Bay Area that will always be home. There, he first gained a reputation as an innovative and eclectic pianist and multi-instrumentalist. He has recorded 11 self-produced albums as a leader and has performed on over 50 others. He was co-founder of the ground breaking hip- hop jazz group, Alphabet Soup. He has recorded with Anthony Braxton, Cecil McBee, Andrew Cyrille, Joe Morello, Charlie Hunter, Bob Minter, Dave Samuels, Don Byron, Paul McCandless, Marshal Crenshaw and has performed with Zigaboo Modeliste, Steve Smith, Mike Clark, The Paul Dresher Ensemble, Pete Seager, Arlo Guthrie, Levon Helm, Norah Jones, Moby, Bob Weir, Joe Henderson, The Berkeley Symphony (Kent Nagano), Ricky Lee Jones, Dave Garibaldi, Larry Schneider, Nina Hagen and Peter Apfelbaum.

Dred was the musical director 5 years in a row for the AMFAR Cinema Against Aids gala held every year during the Cannes Film Festival. His band backed up Alan Cumming, Mary J. Blige, Chris Tucker, Milla Jojovich and Patty Smith.

Dred produced award winning recordings, Rock and Roll Garden and Anna and The Cupcakes for The Bari Koral Family Band and also was the on-camera musical director for the 51 episode yoga-for-kids TV show, Yogapalooza. Dred produced the first recording of Country Joe and the Fish bassist, Bruce Barthol, The Decline and Fall of Everything. He composed the music for the film, Home, starring Woody Allen, Liam Neeson, Mike Myers, Susan Sarandon, Al Molina, Rosie Perez, Colin Quinn and Fran Leibowitz.

dred composed music and performed in 6 San Francisco Mime Troupe productions and performed in the film, Once More With Feeling, with Linda Fiorentio and Chazz Palmenteri. Dred produced the Carol Lipnik recording, M.O.T.H. and produced the debut album of The Former Members, a jam band supergroup featuring former members of Country Joe, Steve Miller and The Blues Project. Dred has written and played on dozens of TV commercials.

Dred has composed music for choreographers, Alan Danielson, ,Mary Lisa Burns, Maxine Steinman, SQUAD and Jo Kreiter from Zaccho. Dred has also worked for choreographers Margaret Jenkins, Joe Goode, Oberlin Dance Collective, Mark Morris and Merce Cunningham.

Dred is currently based in NYC and regularly performs with Sasha Dobson, The Bari Koral Family Band, Bump City, The Munchies, and The Dred Scott Trio. For the last 6 years, Dred has been the house pianist at Del Posto, the 4-star Lydia and Joe Bastianich restaurant in NYC.

dred's new album, Dred Scott Rides Alone, was recorded in rural northern California. Dred wrote all the songs and played all the instruments. It is a standard jazz piano trio format - piano, bass and drums. The songs, written during an artist residency at the UCross Foundation in Wyoming, are sublime, perhaps dred's most accessible and gentle writing and playing in his storied career. Dred Scott Rides Alone stands as a mature and melodic statement of life, love and the pursuit of beauty.