The record business is a sinkhole no matter which way you turn.
But in this troubled economy, Moppa Elliott chose an especially tough path: playing in an avant-garde bop band named Mostly Other People Do the Killing, and starting his own tiny jazz label, Hot Cup.
Elliott, 30, a bassist/composer born in Factoryville, says, “Look, we're just a couple of over-schooled jazz guys who want to play. The problem is that most jazz is not only boring and bad, but irrelevant."
The mission of MOPDtK: Make valid 21st-century jazz that his label will release. That's a big load with a long haul.
Like many musician kids, Elliott did play in rock, country, wedding, and metal bands while growing up. “Oh, I have pop chops," he says with a laugh.
For evidence, he describes his collection of 10,000 albums, from Patsy Cline to the Roots. He's even in a cover band, led by MOPDtK saxophonist Jon Irabagon. It's called Starship's Journey: A Tribute to the Music of the '80s.
“We sight-read tunes on stage and read all guitar and sax solos in unison," Elliott says. “It's fun."
Playing in diverse bands in his old hometown made him the madly diverse jazz player and composer he is now.
The quartet, playing tomorrow at Chris' Jazz Cafe, formed in 2003 and has many influences in common, but each member has his own oddball diversity. Drummer Kevin Shea's knowledge of pop is encyclopedic. Irabagon loves Billy Joel, and so “Allentown" is skewered on the band's 2008 album, This Is Our Moosic. “MOPDtK sounds like it does because all of us played so much different music and can draw upon all of it," Elliott says. “We can respect other musicians without worshipping them."
Elliott grows serious talking about his love of the game, his adoration of post-bop music, and saxophonist Ornette Coleman, whose free-jazz classics of the '50s and '60s have inspired both MOPDtK's music and its cover art. Both Shamokin!!! (2007) and This Is Our Moosic look like Coleman albums of yore.
Elliott, Irabagon, trumpeter Peter Evans, and Shea play with a visceral and often irreverent potency. They care about the modern jazz tradition so much they skewer it with gleeful passion. Yet Elliott's not too serious. Like many of his song titles ("Andover," “Evans City," “Baden"), the albums borrow their names from cities in Pennsy.
“My titles come from the idea that names of jazz songs are pretty lame most of the time," he says. “Admit it: As a state, Pennsylvania has a high percentage of quirky, absurd town names... including the town where I grew up, Factoryville, in which there is not, nor was there ever, a factory."
Recently relocated to New York, Elliott reminds me that his old hometown just surpassed the 1,000 mark in population; voted for Barack Obama; had a bank until it was robbed and closed; and that baseball player Christy Mathewson grew up there.
Plus, Factoryville is but miles from the Poconos, a snowy region with an avid jazz scene filled with giants like Phil Woods and David Liebman.
But in this troubled economy, Moppa Elliott chose an especially tough path: playing in an avant-garde bop band named Mostly Other People Do the Killing, and starting his own tiny jazz label, Hot Cup.
Elliott, 30, a bassist/composer born in Factoryville, says, “Look, we're just a couple of over-schooled jazz guys who want to play. The problem is that most jazz is not only boring and bad, but irrelevant."
The mission of MOPDtK: Make valid 21st-century jazz that his label will release. That's a big load with a long haul.
Like many musician kids, Elliott did play in rock, country, wedding, and metal bands while growing up. “Oh, I have pop chops," he says with a laugh.
For evidence, he describes his collection of 10,000 albums, from Patsy Cline to the Roots. He's even in a cover band, led by MOPDtK saxophonist Jon Irabagon. It's called Starship's Journey: A Tribute to the Music of the '80s.
“We sight-read tunes on stage and read all guitar and sax solos in unison," Elliott says. “It's fun."
Playing in diverse bands in his old hometown made him the madly diverse jazz player and composer he is now.
The quartet, playing tomorrow at Chris' Jazz Cafe, formed in 2003 and has many influences in common, but each member has his own oddball diversity. Drummer Kevin Shea's knowledge of pop is encyclopedic. Irabagon loves Billy Joel, and so “Allentown" is skewered on the band's 2008 album, This Is Our Moosic. “MOPDtK sounds like it does because all of us played so much different music and can draw upon all of it," Elliott says. “We can respect other musicians without worshipping them."
Elliott grows serious talking about his love of the game, his adoration of post-bop music, and saxophonist Ornette Coleman, whose free-jazz classics of the '50s and '60s have inspired both MOPDtK's music and its cover art. Both Shamokin!!! (2007) and This Is Our Moosic look like Coleman albums of yore.
Elliott, Irabagon, trumpeter Peter Evans, and Shea play with a visceral and often irreverent potency. They care about the modern jazz tradition so much they skewer it with gleeful passion. Yet Elliott's not too serious. Like many of his song titles ("Andover," “Evans City," “Baden"), the albums borrow their names from cities in Pennsy.
“My titles come from the idea that names of jazz songs are pretty lame most of the time," he says. “Admit it: As a state, Pennsylvania has a high percentage of quirky, absurd town names... including the town where I grew up, Factoryville, in which there is not, nor was there ever, a factory."
Recently relocated to New York, Elliott reminds me that his old hometown just surpassed the 1,000 mark in population; voted for Barack Obama; had a bank until it was robbed and closed; and that baseball player Christy Mathewson grew up there.
Plus, Factoryville is but miles from the Poconos, a snowy region with an avid jazz scene filled with giants like Phil Woods and David Liebman.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
