BEST OF B3 2021! #2 – ADAM SCONE

Surprising adventure of real slow funk jazz turns out remarkably well.

Adam Scone was at the vanguard of the Hammond revival in the early 1990’s. He was featured in one of the hottest soul and funk jazz outfits around, The Sugarman 3. Ever since, Scone played and recorded prolifically with Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Cobb and the late great singer Naomi Shelton. His cooperation with soul jazz drum pioneer Ben Dixon gives you an idea of his passion for tasteful groove and grease and whom was present at his shows with the extraordinary soul singer hero Lee Fields remembers Scone’s uplifting Hammond sounds vividly.

Scone recorded quite a few albums as a leader. The funny title of I Scream Scone should not go unmentioned. All his records ooze with gritty soul and funk. Low & Slow, recorded on Rondette and distributed by Cellar Live, moves at a considerably slower pace. It’s comforting stuff, like the feeling of chocolate milk and marshmallows settling down in your stomach, like the feeling of relaxing in front of the fireplace, listening to the crackling of wood blocks, staring at the flames, no hurry no worry… The “lazy’ gait makes Scone’s contemporary update of vintage black soul jazz all the more refined and intense.

Low & Slow‘s meshing of baritone saxophone, vibraphone and Hammond organ is strangely attractive, at once contrasting and a unified whole, dense and glowing. Baritone saxophonist Ian Hendrickson-Smith contributes a couple of strong earthy solo’s. Ballads and blues-based tunes follow opener Psychedelic Eye, a nod to the recently deceased Hammond hero Dr. Lonnie Smith, who recorded Psychedelic Pi many moons ago. If anyone is heir to Lonnie Smith, it’s Adam Scone. Scone pulls some rabbits from the hat and nails Elvis Presley’s Love Me Tender, a sensitive gospel-drenched cover. Tears For Fears’ Shout is the album’s uptempo tune, a shuffle groove intensified by Scone’s resourceful style and a spicy gem that strengthens Scone’s mesmerizing low and slow Hammond stew.