The Sugarman 3
What the World Needs Now
Release Date: May 14, 2012
Genre(s): R&B, Soul, Funk, Neo-Soul
Record label: Daptone
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Buy What the World Needs Now from Amazon
Album Review: What the World Needs Now by The Sugarman 3
Great, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Given the sound of What the World Needs Now, it's difficult to believe that the Sugarman 3 haven't released an album since 2002. After the widely acclaimed Pure Cane Sugar -- the trio did the tour thing, and then went on to work on various individual projects -- Neal Sugarman (also a member of the Dap-Kings and co-founder of Daptone with Gabriel Roth aka Bosco Mann here) -- called organist Adam Scone and drummer Rudy Albin, asking if they were interested in recording. They booked five days in the studio without tunes or expectations.
Based on rating 8/10
Given the sound of What the World Needs Now, it's difficult to believe that the Sugarman 3 haven't released an album since 2002. After the widely acclaimed Pure Cane Sugar -- the trio did the tour thing, and then went on to work on various individual projects -- Neal Sugarman (also a member of the Dap-Kings and co-founder of Daptone with Gabriel Roth aka Bosco Mann here) -- called organist Adam Scone and drummer Rudy Albin, asking if they were interested in recording. They booked five days in the studio without tunes or expectations.
Based on rating 8/10
It’s not like the Sugarman 3 and their compatriots have been clerking at the local Shell station in the decade that’s passed since the soul masters last released an album. Neal Sugarman’s been honking his sax with Al Green, Mark Ronson, Steve Cropper, and Amy Winehouse, and running the Daptone label all while serving as a fulltime member of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings beside Dave Guy, Fernando Velez, Joe Crispiano, and Bosco Mann, all of whom appear beside S3 veterans Rudy Albin and Adam Scone. So, how’s the music? In short? Soulful.
Based on rating B
It’s been ten years since saxophonist Neal Sugarman, drummer Rudy Albin, and organist Adam Scone have released anything together under the moniker Sugarman 3, and even longer since the band was an actual trio. After emerging during the “Acid Jazz” scene of the mid ’90s with a resume that includes apprenticeships and sideman stints with greats like Ben Dixon, Eddie Henderson, Mike Longo, and Jack McDuff, Sugarman 3 broke from the pack by defining their soul jazz boogaloo sound around the funk of Scone’s Hammond organ. Their appropriately titled debut, 1998’s Sugarman’s Boogaloo, was filled with groovy organ and pounding break beats, capturing the essence of soul jazz while also crossing onto the dance floor.
Opinion: Very Good
Thirty-seven economical minutes of discerning soulful party stompers. Daryl Easlea 2012 The Sugarman 3 – comprising saxophonist Neal Sugarman, organist Adam Scone (“the greasiest Hammond player in New York City,” no less) and drummer Rudy Albin – were formed in 1996 by Sugarman as an outlet to recreate the dense, jazzy, Hammond-led grooves of artists such as Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff. After signing to the ultra-hip Daptone Records in the early 00s, the band rested after their 2002 album, Pure Cane Sugar.
'What the World Needs Now'
is available now