Mostly Other People Do The Killing – Slippery Rock (HotCup, 2013) *****

I’m obviously late to the Mostly Other People Do the Killing party. I have covered several of the individual musicians on their own recording and in other groups, but while I knew MOPDtK was out there, I was not in the know. But, I’ll stop this now, this review isn’t about me, it’s about New York based group and their unique approach to creating some incredibly complex and fun music. 

Their 5th studio release (6th counting a recent live album), Slippery Rock, begins with ‘Hearts Content’ which kicks off with a slippery groove from the bass and drums. Quickly, the straight ahead rock beat splinters into fragments that you can hardly count along to, only to suddenly coming back together in time for some strident but slightly askew horn lines.

As the charged melodic lines give way to some heated improvisation there is suddenly a whiff of ‘Dueling Banjos’, just for a moment and now are onto something else – I think the hook from the very un-free jazz ‘Celebration’. By the end of the first tune, after all the rhythmic displacements and tempo and slight stylistic shifts, you’re in for it. It’s a juxtaposition exhibition and you know you are in for great musical ride with filled with sly humor, tongue-in-cheek musical quotes and telepathic playing. 

The premise of the album is that composer Moppa Elliot found inspiration rooted in the smooth jazz of the 70’s and 80’s. Maybe I’m not well enough versed in that genre, but the influence has to be so subtle and abstracted that all I can do is throw up his hands and say “ok, if you say so.” I suppose if you listen closely you do hear the R&B influence in the harmonic rhythm of “President Polk” before the brilliant use of the high pitched woodwinds work into a well assembled pastiche of old-timey jazz mixed with more modern atonality. “Sayre”, one of the many songs named after a town in Pennsylvania (a state that does provide a rich assortment to chose from, but I feel one could do this with New Jersey as well, Manunka Chunk or HoHoKus seem like a good choices too) begins with a jaunty syncopated horn line and over its seven minute course offers fiery solos from trumpeter Peter Evans and saxophonist Jon Irabagon. “Can’t Tell Shipp from Shohola” is cleverly titled and quite an emotive piece. Irabagon’s interactions with drummer Kevin Shea and layered with Evans’ contributions feels quite poignant here. Bassist and band leader Elliot’s compositions are so well thought out that they hardly reveal the shifts in style that MOPDtK is known for (or so I have come to believe after reading some other reviews).

This is jazz for a mashup generation. Rapid fire ideas coming from all directions at all times, fitting together perfectly in puzzlingly intelligent manner. All this data, and all of its corresponding information and meanings — encoded in the licks, styles, tempos — are seamlessly woven into a cohesive and exciting set of songs.

And yes, I know I’m late to this party. You, dear readers, already know all of this. You’re just nodding your heads and thinking “yeah buddy, that’s what we’ve been talking about all along.”