Moppa Elliott - Mostly other people do the killing

Peter Evans: trumpet
Jon Irabagon: saxophones
Moppa Elliott: bass
Kevin Shea: drums & percussion

Moppa Elliott is a young bassist who leads a young, talented band. As such, the music—both written and improvised parts—is
misleadingly mature. Whether it's strong training and influences or just plain old giftedness I can't say, but it's heartening
to see such talent continue to flow into jazz, despite the great old form's ongoing brush with death at the hands of the music
business, aided and abetted by an increasingly indifferent or antipathetic public.

Elliott seems to want to distance his project from the mainstream designation, but here perhaps his youth shows more plainly,
as Mostly Others Do the Killing is clearly a jazz record. The title and design of the CD aims to ape an alternative rock
aesthetic, but five seconds into the music, no one will be fooled. The compositions are in-the-pocket modern jazz romps. The
music is playful and seemingly unintimidated by the deep waters in which it swims, but the ideas and stylistic devices employed
are far from avant-garde. Elliott is correct to aim for a younger audience, but his music is far more sophisticated than any
alternative rock, and he has a heap more instrumental talent in his band.

Jon Irabagon's soprano playing seems to reveal an awareness of Steve Lacy, and he can play with bright clarity and microtonal
murkiness at will. The fine trumpeter Peter Evans, also reported to implement piccolo trumpet and baritone horn on this outing,
likewise has technique to spare, sporting by turns precision to rival Marsalis and controlled, inspired looseness that
suggests an affinity with Don Cherry. The leader's bass is recorded here, alas, heavily. He and drummer Kevin Shea certainly
manage to swing the band through the required passages and assume a perfectly satisfactory free pulse at the appropriate
moments.

2005 MOSTLY OTHER PEOPLE DO THE KILLING (rapidshare/mediafire)

Jon Irabagon - Foxy

Jon Irabagon: tenor saxophone
Peter Brendler: bass
Barry Altschul: drums

The tacky art work on the cover may deter some of you, thinking that this the umpteenth easy listening jazz CD that has nothing but low quality to offer. A closer look and you will see the references to the first sax trio ever, with Sonny Rollins on the cover dressed as a cowboy in a desert landscape, here somewhat improved by a blonde babe in the dunes.

The content is some of the most fabulous high energy free boppish sax trios that you will hear in a long time. Jon Irabagon blows his lungs out, together with the rest of his organs and his brains for a eighty-minute long unrelenting piece supported with an equally muscular effort by Peter Brendler on bass and Barry Altschul on drums.

When is say "relentless", I mean "relentless": blowing like this for a few minutes will exhaust the most experienced among saxophonists, but the physical power that Irabagon demonstrates here is worthy of a gold medal in various olympic disciplines combined. In that sense it is a great sequel to his previous "I Don't Hear Nothing But The Blues" with Mike Pride on drums, only even more energetic.

The music itself is not adventurous, nor is it new, quite to the contrary, the trio brings phrases and rhythms from the great bop tradition, including blues, but then full of power, adding all the techniques developed in the past decades, driving the music often into wilder ranges, with shifting rhythms and tempi, although the latter is mostly of the high speed genre, with one exception, the "Foxy (Radio Edit)" on which the speed slows down a bit, and this by itself is great fun, as if the speed would be too high for the radio audiences, then it picks up again to end full blast with the ten-minute last track, "Moxie".

Despite being one lengthy track, it is somewhat arbitrary cut into twelve titles, with obvious recognisable phrases coming back in several pieces. That the music is all about raw energy and forward drive is best illustrated by "Roxy", on which Irabagon keeps blowing the same three notes on and on and on and on for minutes on end, like a railroad worker swinging down his hammer. It's all about the drive.

It is not high art, but it is high entertainment. Not ground-breaking, but at moments hard to believe how so much energy can be kept up for such a long time. Really hard to believe. Great fun! (from Free Jazz)

2010 FOXY (part1/part2)

Mostly other people do the killing - Forty Fort

Peter Evans: trumpet
Jon Irabagon: alto & tenor saxophones
Moppa Elliott: double-bass
Kevin Shea: drums, electronics

If Mostly Other People Do the Killing seems to be all about cleverness --mysterious band name, calling their fourth album Forty Fort, Impulse!-like cover art, pseudo-brainiac liner notes by "Leonardo Featherweight," a goof on jazz critic of renown Leonard Feather -- well, there is that. Even those who profess to disdain jazz's avant-garde, into which school this certainly falls, may very well be sucked in by the sheer fun of it all. From the first track, "Pen Argyl," the quartet -- Moppa Elliott (bass), Peter Evans (trumpet), Jon Irabagon (alto and tenor saxophone), and Kevin Shea (drums, elecronics) -- makes it clear that as serious as they are, they're not all that serious. Taking off like a New Orleans second-line march gone haywire, shifting into psychedelic Dixieland, and ultimately winding its way down into introspective free-form noisemaking and synchronized wailing, MOPDTK leaves no doubt that they are in control of their particularly jovial brand of chaos. That Elliott's songwriting (all but one is his, the other is a Neal Hefti cover) is carefully plotted, however, is also undeniable -- there is considerable melody skimming the surface, even at the most out-of-control moments (the title track, the sizzling "Nanticoke Coke"), and while Forty Fort serves as a showcase for each of its contributors to blow uninhibitedly, that they're all sharply tuned in to one another at all times becomes increasingly evident as the jams unfold. These tunes do swing, and they do groove, they boil over, collide, fly off the handle, and command constant attention. They're funky and provocative and electrifyingly, cracklingly hot. If at times the barrage of sounds seems to overwhelm, it's only because these guys love to play (as in fun time, adventurous play) so much that they can't help but run amok. From a post-bop base they expand outward into parts unknown -- stopping cold to emit a minute's worth of what sounds like a demented slide whistle, engaging in brass-ified cackling, going momentarily bluesy, then forgetting why they did that and returning to untethered improv. The very last sounds on this otherwise non-vocal recording are those of a flushing toilet and a woman's voice (à la an encouraging mom) ironically imploring, "You did a great job!" We already know that by then, but the thumbs up is reassuring. (from AMG)

2010 FORTY FORT

Mostly other people do the killing - Shamokin!!!

Peter Evans: trumpet
Jon Irabagon: alto saxophone
Moppa Elliott: double-bass
Kevin Shea: drums

Bassist Moppa Elliot is clearly fond of Ornette Coleman's music, and this second quartet date with his unctuously titled band Most Other People Do the Killing, or MOPDTK for short, expands on that influence. Free swing and funk with a piquant edge, a taste for harmelodics, ragged rhythm, and approximate note phrases identify their sound. Trumpeter Peter Evans and alto saxophonist Jon Irabagon, two notable rising star jazz improvisers, create the tension-and-release elements that spark this music, backed by Elliott's playful and bold basslines and the loose, craggy drumming of Kevin Shea. Except for "covers" of the standards "Lover" (admittedly disconnected) and "A Night in Tunisia" (rushed very fast), the rest are originals that command attention and hold it. The sonic image of a Don Cherry-Ornette Coleman front line is firmly stamped on the opener "Handsome Eddy" and never lets go. There's an innate humor to the music, as a wildly scattered phraseology simulates the stance of Raymond Scott during "The Hop Bottom Hop," with Irabagon's acerbic sax and Elliott's slap bass à la Slam Stewart swelling the piece until it bursts. The band is enamored of hard bop, but is not its slave as is most prevalent during "Shamokin," while a more Brazilian and tango shade tints "Dunkelbergers." "Evans City" is a funky blues showing off the ribald original sound Evans extracts from his horn, while "Baden" is amazingly wry, yet refined. A drum solo precedes "Tunisia" and reveals Shea's purposefully sloppy technique, far from neat and clean, but somehow incorporating the rock-ish power of John Bonham, the powerhouse modernity of Elvin Jones, and the unabashed or unfettered carelessness of Han Bennink. Shea is at once the glue and the detonator. The album cover, an adaptation of Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers' classic Blue Note LP A Night in Tunisia, is tip-off enough that this offering serves up a modern jazz roller coaster ride, filled with sufficient campy or smart twists and turns to appeal to any who enjoys the modern jazz sound of the '60s made new yet again. And pay particular attention to Evans -- he's a true original deserving wider recognition. (from AMG)

2007 SHAMOKIN!!! (rapidshare/mediafire)

Mostly other people do the killing - This is our moosic

Peter Evans: trumpet
Jon Irabagon: alto & tenor saxophones
Moppa Elliott: double-bass
Kevin Shea: drums

Review by Michael G. Nastos

Mostly Other People Do the Killing (yes, that's the name of the group) are mainly inspired by towns or villages in the state of Pennsylvania, and the music of Ornette Coleman. This is evident when you look at the cover art of this CD, a direct reference to Coleman's legendary album This Is Our Music. Nicely dressed young men in suits and ties, MOPDTK look only slightly like mad jazz pioneers, but in fact they seize the precepts of Coleman and are making inspired new music beyond others in their peer group. Moosic is also the name of a city in Pennsylvania, and there are others to which the band dedicates these selections. The stars of the group are trumpeter Peter Evans and saxophonist Jon Irabagon, both leaders in their own right and contributing exponentially to the brash soul and extroverted solos that identify the group sound. Bassist Moppa Elliott is the ostensible leader and the wellspring for the compositions referring to the Quaker State, while drummer Kevin Shea is probably the most energetic, frenetic, fierce, and wild-assed player this side of Han Bennink. Together MOPDTK create some of the most vibrant, exciting, and original music in modern-day progressive jazz. There's a circus-like, clownish element à la Lester Bowie quite evident in pieces such as the choppy "Two Boot Jacks" with additional yakkity, untamed references from Irabagon to Boots Randolph. Blending Bowie's humor with the multi-ethnic style of Don Cherry, Evans is particularly tuneful, stewing in an R&B brew for "East Orwell." Mixing metaphors of Danny Elfman's Batman theme, Kurt Weill, and Claude Debussy, "The Bats in the Belfry" waltzes along until the trumpet of Evans busts out with zeal and enthusiasm. The blues remain a major factor on the funky rock boogaloo workout "Drainlick," driven by the nutty drumming of Shea, inspiring it to disintegrate into free urban sounds, then bop. A dirty shuffle from Shea is installed in a low-toned then frantic "My Delightful Muse." You also get the spy-toned hard bopping "Fagundus," where Shea is everywhere at once; the children's tune "Biggertown" warped by free blowing furious bop; and a funky Bowie-like "cover" of Billy Joel's "Allentown." The selection paying direct homage to Coleman's harmolodic approximate note theory is the 12/8-based "Effort, Patience, Diligence," where admitted clichés are tossed left and right -- mostly left -- with some added blues-hued sweetness. MOPDTK have been winning substantive awards and fans who dare to be different, and they are steadily on the rise toward being one of the premier acoustic creative ensembles on the American landscape. This effort does nothing to deter their meteoric ascension, and is highly recommended. (from AMG)

2008 THIS IS OUR MOOSIC (rapidshare/mediafire)