Mostly Other People Do the Killing's trio album 'Disasters Vol. 1' (February 18, 2022 on Hot Cup Records)

Moppa Elliott’s Mostly Other People Do the Killing Presents Disasters Vol. 1

Trio album available February 18, 2022 on Hot Cup Records

DownBeat Critics Poll Winners: Rising Star Ensemble

El Intruso Best Band to See Live

El Intruso Jazz Group of the Year 

“With each album, [MOPDtK’s] reach gets deeper and more convincing.”

– Mike Shanley, JazzTimes 

“The group that has always straddled the broad and fuzzy line between tradition and chaotic improvisation, has nevertheless managed that process with a mixture of sophistication, revelation and unbridled enthusiasm.”

– Karl Ackermann, All About Jazz 

Featuring: Ron Stabinsky (Jazz Journalists Association Best Debut Album, Free For One), Moppa Elliott (DownBeat Critics Poll Rising Star Bassist, Composer, Arranger), Kevin Shea (Best Drummer, Village Voice)

Hot Cup Records is proud to present Disasters Vol. 1, the second release by the piano trio configuration of Mostly Other People Do the Killing. Disasters Vol. 1 features eight new compositions by bassist/composer Moppa Elliott written in the fall of 2019, just before the pandemic struck. Each composition on the album is named after a small town in Pennsylvania that experienced  disasters ranging from floods and fires to mining accidents. These disasters are cautionary tales, potent metaphors, and excellent examples of how people measure risk and reward.

Elliott’s compositions, as performed by the MOPDtK trio including pianist Ron Stabinsky and drummer Kevin Shea, are deliberately simple so that they can be spontaneously taken apart and reassembled, a hallmark of MOPDtK dating back to the band’s inception in 2003. The melodic material is often blues-based and firmly rooted in the Jazz tradition unlike much of the electronic orchestration, improvised transitions, and non sequiturs that frequently derail the written composition. The opening track “Three Mile Island,” for example, is a bugaloo, a form that serves as the lynchpin or opening number of so many classic jazz albums. Beginning with dense improvised material, the composition slowly takes shape around a bass line and harmonic progression before the recording concludes with the full statement of the theme.  

MOPDtK’s frequent collaborator, Leonardo Featherweight, has penned liner notes explaining the connection between each song’s title and the music it inspired. True to form, he often deliberately misses the point, yet accidentally reveals important points. While each piece was written with the town and its specific disaster in mind, also focused on disasters as metaphors for the conflicts we encounter every day as we navigate the joys and sorrows of our social, romantic, and familial obligations. Ultimately, the origins and inspiration behind each piece are less important than the recorded performance and interaction between the musicians in real time.

After the release of Paint, the first MOPDtK album in the piano trio format, Elliott recorded three albums of his compositions for three different ensembles. JazzBand/RockBand/DanceBand featured his straight-ahead jazz quintet Advancing on a Wild Pitch, his rock band Unspeakable Garbage (which performed at the Heineken Jazz Festival in San Sebastian, Spain), and his dance band Acceleration Due to Gravity featuring his long-time friends and collaborators Mike Pride and George Burton. The range of styles included on this album solidified Elliott’s reputation as one of the great composers working today.

Over the past sixteen years, MOPDtK, led by bassist/composer Moppa Elliott, has earned a place at the forefront of jazz and improvised music, performing in a style that is at once rooted in the jazz tradition and highly improvised and unstructured. Billed as a “Bebop Terrorist Band,” their music melds history and tradition with cutting-edge vibrancy and the underlying imperative that jazz is alive and well, and most of all, fun. Their initial albums explored the intersection between common practice hard bop compositions and free improvisation, incorporating a kaleidoscopic wealth of other influences from pop music to the classical European repertoire. In 2010, Elliott expanded the group’s framework and began exploring specific eras of jazz, resulting in 2011’s Slippery Rock (an investigation of smooth jazz and fusion styles) and 2012’s Red Hot (featuring an expanded lineup recalling the jazz and blues recordings of the late 1920s and early 1930s). 

2014 saw the release of Blue, a note-for-note recreation of Miles Davis’ classic album, Kind of Blue that evoked a wide range of strong responses from both the public and critics and will likely be a part of the discussion of the state of jazz in the 21st century for years to come. In 2015, the band returned to a quartet format for the album Mauch Chunk, which explored the hard bop styles common in the 1950s. Since the release of Mauch Chunk, all four members of the core quartet have released solo recordings including Moppa Elliott’s Still, Up In the Air, and pianist Ron Stabinsky’s Free For One, both on Hot Cup Records. In February 2017 MOPDtK the band released the septet album Loafer’s Hollow to wide critical acclaim.

Pianist Ron Stabinsky is a member of the legendary indie-rock band The Meat Puppets, Peter Evans’ Quartet and Quintet, Charles Evans Quartet (no relation), and in 2016 recorded his first solo album Free For One on Hot Cup Records.

Kevin Shea was named “Best Drummer in New York” by the Village Voice and regularly tours with the noise-rock-improv duo, Talibam! Talibam! was named the “Artists in Residence” at the Moers Festival in Moers, Germany for all of 2021 and have spent the year collaborating with a wide variety of artists from around the world.

Bassist Moppa Elliott teaches music at Information Technology High School in Long Island City, NY.  He also produces and releases albums on Hot Cup Records including his solo bass recording Still, Up in the Air and a three-album release entitled JazzBand/RockBand/DanceBand.

Mostly Other People Do the Killing – Tour Dates

• Saturday, February 19, 7:30 p.m. at Community Music School of Springfield, 127 State St., Springfield, MA. Presented by Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares. Tickets $15. For information visit www.jazzshares.org.

• Sunday, February 20, 6 p.m. at The Cooperage Project, 1030 Main St., Honesdale, PA. Tickets $20, $15 advance. For information call 570-253-2020 or visit https://thecooperageproject.org/event/mostly-other-people-do-the-killing-2/.

• Monday, February 21, 8 p.m. at Bop Shop Records, 1460 Monroe Avenue, Rochester, NY. Tickets $20. For information call 585-271-3354 or visit https://www.bopshop.com/events/mostly-other-people-do-the-killing.

• Wednesday, February 23, 7 p.m. at City of Asylum, 40 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA. Live or livestream tickets free. For information call 412-435-1110 or visit https://cityofasylum.org/event/diasaters-vol-1-album-release/.

• Thursday, February 24, 7 p.m. at The Bop Stop, 2920 Detroit Avenue, 

Cleveland, OH. Live performance tickets $15; livestream free, donations 

encouraged. Livestream at https://www.facebook.com/bopstop/live. For information call 216-771-6551 or visit https://www.themusicsettlement.org/events/2022/02/24/mostly-other-people-do-the-killing-bop-stop.

• Friday, February 25, 7 p.m. at Rhizome, 1950 Maple St. NW, Washington, DC. Tickets $10-$20. For information visit https://www.rhizomedc.org/new-events/2022/2/25/mopdtkzara. 

Hot Cup Records

Braithwaite & Katz · Three Mile Island - Mostly Other People Do the Killing

Bryan Murray & Jon Lundbom - Beats by Balto! Vol. 2 (November 17, 2021 Chant Records)

Jon Lundbom (Big Five Chord) and Bryan Murray, a.k.a. Balto Exclamationpoint (Bryan and the Haggards) are back for their second Chant Records release. Joined by an all-star roster of accomplices, Lundbom and Murray blend hip-hop-style beat construction with avant-jazz and much more in a collage of sounds from various corners of the musical universe. Beats by Balto! Vol. 2 features performances from Jon Irabagon, Moppa Elliott, Nick Millevoi, and many more. A funky, wild, and adventurous collection of music with virtuosic improvisation and revelous glee, Beats by Balto! Vol. 2 is sure to please adventurous music lovers throughout Planet Earth and beyond. All artists' proceeds to benefit the Jazz Foundation of America's COVID-19 Relief Fund: jazzfoundation.org/covid19fund/.

1. Battalions

2. Beat Like This

3. Big P. (Interlude)

4. Tears and Fists

5. Ex Machina

6. Cap'n Crunch (Interlude)

7. Truck Gun

8. Enter!

9. Weak Sauce (Interlude)

10. Hot Shit

MUSICIANS

Bryan Murray - soprano, alto, c-melody, and tenor saxophones

Jon Irabagon - sopranino, soprano, mezzo-soprano, balto!, and tenor saxophones; alto clarinet

Jon Lundbom - guitar

Matt Kanelos - keyboard

Moppa Elliott - bass

Nick Millevoi - guitar

Richard Mikel - bass

Sam Kulik - trombone

Beats by Balto Exclamationpoint

COMPOSERS

Battalions - Jon Lundbom

Beat Like This - Jon Lundbom

Big P. - Bryan Murray

Ex Machina - Jon Lundbom

Tears and Fists - Jon Lundbom

Cap'n Crunch - Bryan Murray

Truck Gun - Jon Lundbom

Enter! - Jon Lundbom

Weak Sauce - Bryan Murray

Hot Shit - Jon Lundbom

All songs composed to beats constructed by Balto! Exclamationpoint

Recorded across the country, assembled in quarantine at Balto! World Headquarters

Mastered by Louie Lino at Resonate Music

Produced by Bryan Murray and Jon Lundbom

PREORDER

Moppa Elliott - Pinpoint (20th Anniversary Remaster) Hot Cup Records

Recorded on March 11, 2001 in the TIMARA recording studio at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, this is the first studio recording by Moppa Elliott, Peter Evans, and Charles Evans.

Peter Evans (trumpet), Charles Evans (baritone saxophone), Kelly Roberge (tenor and alto saxophone), Allan Baker (piano), Moppa Elliott (bass), James Kittleman (drums).

Recorded and mixed by Nicholas Party.

Original album artwork by Becky Fellows.

Remastered by Seth Foster.

1. Talked Down 07:05

2. Pinpoint 05:45

3. Past Disappointment 07:43

4. Blues for Hawes 04:58

5. Fuzzy 05:01

6. Peace 09:21

7. Penalty Box 04:17

8. Pinpoint (reprise) 05:49

Pre-order

Mostly Other People Do The Killing - Mauch Chunk (2015)

By Antonio Poscic / freejazzblog

It’s not surprising that nowadays everyone and anyone has a usually quite strong opinion about NYC’s Mostly Other People Do the Killing, the ensemble led and directed by bassist Matthew "Moppa" Elliott. By crafting their style around honest and loving (a fact that many seem to miss!) deconstructions and pseudohomages to almost every genre from the history of jazz (which includes some sacred cows), they pushed themselves into the spotlight of mainstream crowds and, at the same time, raised some eyebrows between (free) jazz connoisseurs and aficionados. Just by perusing the reviews published on this blog, their mission is made simultaneously clear and unclear by the array of conflicting and dissenting opinions. Revered by some, despised and misunderstood by others, Mostly Other People Do the Killing’s approach and attitude puzzles and freaks out, revealing post-modern tendencies behind their superficial facets of mere entertainers.

That’s why Mauch Chunk is exactly the unexpected type of release that we’ve come to expect  from a band that continues to surprise even when they, like this time around, go exploring one of the most rehashed and tired of jazz subgenres: post- and hard-bop. It's largely thanks to the musicians' varied playing styles and approaches and Elliott’s intricate compositions that the band's well-known M.O. hasn't become stale even after ten years. The recipe that they follow appears to be so deceivingly simple. Take a page from the book of (classic) jazz and rewrite it with great care to follow some new, fresh narrative brimming with improvisations and quirky playing. Of course, remember to add a healthy serving of spontaneous and sincere humour (a fact that many seem to be irked by!) which is obviously (to me, at least) never a result of attempts at pandering to audiences. Mauch Chunk thus feels both like a return to roots for the band, revisiting stylistic locations in which their experimentations began, and a new beginning with pianist Ron Stabinsky taking the place of trumpeter Peter Evans as one of the four core members. This change, in turn, also resulted in a shift of Elliott’s compositions towards relatively piano-centered pieces.

Because of that, at first glance Mauch Chunk might appear as a display of the band taking a safer road than on some of their previous records, staying closer to those original hard-bop idioms and tropes, but the flow found just beneath the surface is as inspiring and joyful as ever. The seven short, compact compositions, named as usual after towns in Pennsylvania, are all carefully, intelligently thought out, each bearing a dedication to the individuals that influenced them, yet never feeling overwrought or unoriginal. Elevating the already solid compositions, Jon Irabagon, Kevin Shea, Ron Stabinsky, and Moppa Elliott all contribute their own sparks to the music with short quotations and wild, unpredictable references (I won’t spoil these), improvisational dialogues, and mutedly outrageous piano and saxophone solos.

There are as many variations in group dynamics as there are songs on the record. Jon Irabagon leads the way and veers on the edge of extended techniques on opening “Mauch Chunk Is Jim Thorpe” (dedicated to Henry Threadgill) before things completely fall apart and reassemble themselves. Jon Stabinsky flexes his fingers and counterpoints Irabagon’s licks on the ever accelerating and rolling, dissonant “Obelisk” (inspired by Dave Holland’s music). The whole group, lead by Shea’s drumming, toys with rhythms and time signatures on the bossa nova-infused “West Bolivar” (to Caetano Veloso), while the final “Mehoopany” tries to close the record on a dreamy, contemplative note, only to have Shea’s drumming, the single constantly disruptive element, foretell and introduce the ensuing chaos. In all of these cases, the music underlined by masterful playing never fails to captivate and reward, tickling the mind with the possibility of the material developing even further when performed live.

While Stabinsky’s first proper introduction also brings about an air of change for the group, with Evans’ furious playing replaced by more structured, toned down piano phrases, this is still the Mostly Other People Do the Killing we all know and enjoy. A hint of hidden, unrevealed potential within Stabinsky’s playing and Elliott’s evolving and expanding compositional methods are sure signs that we’ll yet be seeing lots of great stuff from these guys.

Mauch Chunk is Jim Thorpe (for Henry Threadgill)

West Bolivar (for Caetano Veloso)

Obelisk (for Dave Holland)

Niagra (for Will Connell)

Herminie (for Sonny Clark)

Townville (for Brieanne Beaujolais)

Mehoopany (for Frank Fonseca)

Jon Irabagon: alto saxophone

Ron Stabinsky: piano

Moppa Elliott: Bass

Kevin Shea: drums

BUY THIS ALBUM!!!

Domi

Mostly Other People Do The Killing - Hannover (Live) 2015

By Antonio Poscic / freejazzblog

As many have noted during the years, Mostly Other People Do the Killing are a band that, while really enjoyable to listen through the medium of recorded music, come fully into their own during concerts. It’s on these occasions, in small clubs and intimate venues, that the listeners get to experience the unfiltered and unhinged impact of Moppa Elliott’s idiosyncratic vision, his often ingenious compositions, and the improvisations that Peter Evans (trumpet), Jon Irabagon (saxophone), Kevin Shea (drums, electronic effects), and Elliott himself (double bass) twist and twirl around the composed guidelines. Their approach is rooted in the past but open to the present and sometimes childishly anxious to explore the future.

Hannover captures one of the quartet’s performances from early 2014 in Hannover, Germany. It’s a recording, rich in tone and with well-placed auditive cues, that both provides a snapshot of the group’s live performances and sublimates their whole career. Because of that, to talk about Hannover is to talk about this band’s entire output. In that regard, Hannover once again demonstrates how Mostly Other People Do the Killing are an ensemble that feels and understands jazz, a collective of musicians that insist on imbuing their music with a jovial and contemporary sense, dismissing mainstream ideas of jazz as evergreen-laden, immutable, and dust covered music. Not an echo of an age long gone nor a relict of the past, but a live and alive music that simultaneously questions and cherishes its traditions and heritage.

Hannover works as a fairly good approximation of the group’s live energy, as much as realistically possible for a static representation of music. The feeling of authenticity is augmented by the arrangements of the tracks which are, as is customary for Mostly Other People Do the Killing’s shows, segmented into sets and suites that flow from one composition to another, interrupted, broken into pieces, and punctuated by solo escapades and amusing detours. The result? A record that feels fragmented by the very nature of the band, yet cohesive despite the apparent disregard for structure. One segment might begin with the musicians indulging in pure swing, hard-bop or even cool jazz, but will then, on a whim, start breaking under the stress of subtly invasive anachronisms - electronic effects, solos, and improvisations akin to the aesthetics of contemporary jazz and electroacoustic music. It takes but a few beats for the musicians to jump from the honest enthusiasm of exploring jazz’s standard phrases to the deconstruction and subversion of those same licks. Yet, in all of this apparent chaos, with the group not afraid to visit pop and rock idioms, purposefulness and new structures emerge.

Between the uncharacteristically characteristic groove and melody on “Pen Argyl / Ulysses At Troy / Andover / Blue Ball / Effort, Patience, Diligence” and the sparkly climax on “My Delightful Muse / Hideaway / A Night In Tunisia”, Hannover gives us a chance to experience time and again the mischievous attitude exposed through Mostly Other People Do the Killing’s individual and collective explorations and the constant dichotomies of modern jazz, improvised music, and well-known jazz traditions.

Peter Evans: trumpet and piccolo trumpet

Jon Irabagon: tenor and sopranino sax

Moppa Elliott: double bass

Kevin Shea: drums and electronics

1. Pen Argyl / Ulysses at Troy / Andover / Blue Ball / Effort, Patience, Diligence 30:13

2. Is Granny Spry? / Dunkelbergers / Baden / Little Hope 19:36

3. President Polk 7:18

4. My Delightful Muse / Hideaway / A Night in Tunisia 21:38

BUY THIS ALBUM!!!

Domi

Pen Argyl / Ulysses at Troy / Andover / Blue Ball / Effort, Patience, Diligence

Moppa Elliot - Still, Up in the Air (2016)

Moppa Elliott, bassist and leader of the jazz ensemble, "Mostly Other People Do the Killing" presents his first solo double-bass album. The pieces presented in this recording were recorded on February 16, 2015 at St. Stephen's Pro Cathedral in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Each improvisation is a series of disparate musical ideas that transition rapidly in an attempt to disrupt the linear progression of thematic developmen.

Moppa Elliott, bass

1. Sequence Three

2. Sequence Eight

3. Sequence Nine

4. Sequence Ten

5. Sequence Eleven

6. Sequence Six / Twelve

7. Sequence Fourteen

BUY THIS ALBUM!!!

JAVI