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Album Review

Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Loafer's Hollow

Read "Loafer's Hollow" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
March 4, 2017

The expanded, septet version of Mostly Other People Do The Killing takes on more pre-bebop era jazz. The previous septet outing Red Hot (Hot Cup, 2013) had focused on jazz and blues recordings of the 1920s -30s; this one adds the music of the swing era to the mix. One of the defining changes in the swing era was the banjo giving way to guitar in the rhythm section--with banjoist Brandon Seabrook in the band, the earlier sound is maintained, ...

Album Review

Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Loafer's Hollow

Read "Loafer's Hollow" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
February 10, 2017

Blowing up Mostly Other People Do the Killing from its core quartet to a septet may seem like an invitation to dance on the musical third rail. 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. Loafer's Hollow is a surprising entry to their catalog of one-dozen releases.MOPDtK founding member (and primary composer), bassist Moppa Elliott, saxophonist ...

Live Review

Mostly Other People Do the Killing at the Philadelphia Art Alliance

by Asher Wolf
May 5, 2016

Mostly Other People Do the Killing Philadelphia Art AlliancePhiladelphia, PA February 15, 2016 “If mostly other people do the killing I guess that means it's sometimes us," replied bassist Moppa Elliot in response to the inevitable question about the name of his band. Though many consider Mostly Other People Do the Killing (MOPDtK) one of the most original and talented ensembles of their generation, others would argue that jazz itself is the object ...

Album Review

Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Mauch Chunk

Read "Mauch Chunk" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
October 24, 2015

Any concerns that a personnel change would affect the mercurial disposition of the “terrorist bebop band" known as Mostly Other People Do the Killing have been confirmed as unfounded by Mauch Chunk, the wily ensemble's eighth studio recording for Hot Cup Records. Trumpeter Peter Evans, an original member since the core quartet's founding in 2003, left after the release of last year's Blue--a perplexingly pointless note-for-note remake of Miles Davis' iconic Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959). Evans' ostensible replacement, pianist ...

Album Review

Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Mauch Chunk

Read "Mauch Chunk" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
October 21, 2015

Mostly Other People Do the Killing, the bad boys of jazz, don't quite turn in a straight ahead hard bop album with Mauch Chunk, but it's as close as they are likely to get. The new quartet has pianist Ron Stabinsky in place of longtime trumpeter Peter Evans--which seems to ground the group sound--and there's less obvious classic jazz deconstruction and quotation than normal. Saxophonist Jon Irabagon stays on alto for the entire session, something he has not done in ...

Album Review

Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Mauch Chunk

Read "Mauch Chunk" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
October 14, 2015

If ever a jazz group defied labeling, it is Mostly Other People Do the Killing (MOPDtK). With their self-titled debut (Hot Cup Records, 2004), the group had demonstrated a wildly engrossing pastiche encompassing influences as diverse as Ornette Coleman and traditional New Orleans swing. MOPDtK was founded by bassist Moppa Elliott and trumpeter Peter Evans who met in the late 90s as students of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio. When the two relocated to New York, saxophonist Jon ...

Album Review

Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Blue

Read "Blue" reviewed by Maurizio Comandini

by Maurizio Comandini
October 13, 2014

Una domanda sorge spontanea: ma con questo Blue cosa volevano dimostrare? Il gruppo di Moppa Elliott si è scelto da subito un nome molto intrigante, Mostly Other People Do the Killing, che di sicuro non li fa passare inosservati. Poi, dal 2003, il quartetto ha cominciato un percorso artistico molto interessante che per certi versi fa tornare in mente i brividi di modernità che negli anni ottanta furono evocati dai Lounge Lizards di John Lurie, anche se va precisato che ...