Loafer`s Hollow (HC 161)

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Loafer`s Hollow

Hot Cup

888295523677

DRJ 150424

HC 161

JAZZ

1

Loafer`s Hollow

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CD 16,99 €

DIGIPACK EDITION

The newest from Mostly Other People Do the Killing lands in territory staked out by Dixieland bands and stride at the birth of the jazz tradition.  This may be MOPDtK's most accessible album but that shouldn't be a deterrent to those who like this band on the quirkier side. There remains quirkiness to spare.

With half of the ensemble comprised of wind instruments, the way they employ a quirky lyricism to attain some thrilling moments of intertwining melodicism is pretty damn cool even when viewed in isolation.  What is unusual about Loafer's Hollow is that the original Elliott compositions are firmly rooted in the swing era of the 1930s-1940s, a more demarcated parameter than the bop/free improvisation/chamber jazz amalgamations that MOPDtK typically work with. That is not to say that these pieces are in any way staid or formulaic; each retains that undefinable MOPDtK stamp of idiosyncrasy.

But the heart of this music beats strongest through its rhythm section, and it’s from here that the unsubtle command to move those feet originates.  Every tune on Loafer’s Hollow shouts from the ground up, joyful and alive, and that effusiveness is contagious as hell.  The interactions between wind instruments is clever dialog, and there’s a little intrigue generated by trying to match up the music to the literary authors each piece is dedicated to, and it’s an amusing curiosity how ensemble-leader Moppa Elliott titles his compositions after town names from his native Pennsylvania… but this album forms its best connections when the music is inhaled like smoke, downed like whiskey, and then channeled back out in the spirit of fun in which it’s played.

MOPDtK has made a career out of re-envisioning the music of past eras in a way that is inventive while honoring the originals.  This is arguably their most enjoyable foray yet.

PERSONNEL:

STEVEN BERNSTEIN, trumpet
JON IRABAGON, tenor & sopranino sax
DAVE TAYLOR, bass trombone
BRANDON SEABROOK, banjo, electronics
RON STABINSKY, piano
MOPPA ELLIOTT, bass
KEVIN SHEA, drums

Recorded at The Bunker, March 25, 2016

TRACKS:

01.  Hi-Nella
02. Honey Hole
03. Bloomsburg (For James Joyce)
04. Kilgore (For Kurt Vonnegut)
05. Mason & Dixon (For Thomas Pynchon)
06. Meridian (For Cormac McCarthy)
07. Glen Riddle (For David Foster Wallace)
08. Five (Corners, Points, Forks)