Monday, September 21, 2009

Mostly Other People Do The Killing

"Over the course of their first three studio albums, Mostly Other People Do the Killing have shown a propensity for spirited improvisation and rollicking themes.  Their sometimes bellicose interactions belie an overwhelmingly jocular spirit, keeping the listener engaged and surprised at every turn.

Their first eponymous release displays a quartet in flux, torn between a standard post-bop approach and the more multifarious approach that has become a hallmark of their style.  The opening salvo, 'Elliott Mills,' and ebullient 'Jollytown' are clearly the origins of the current style, and contrast greatly with the brooding 'Between Panic and Desire' and mesmerizing 'Aspers'.

On Shamokin!!! they have arrived.  The compositions each represent one aspect of a greater whole and demonstrate a complete artistic vision.  Genre-hopping group interaction and constant soloist antagonism abound from pieces that cover the gamut of jazz history from boogaloo to ballad, bossa to blues.  The monumental recording of Dizzy Gillespie's 'Night in Tunisia' rounds out the album by showcasing Shea, Irabagon, and Evans in unaccompanied cadenza format.

One can almost feel the ideas of the first two albums expand to their mature state on This Is Our Moosic.  The variety of compositional forms and improvisational tangents has swollen like a gangrenous limb on the corpus of jazz.  The crowning jewel of this album, the Billy Joel composition 'Allentown', is given a polished and commercial treatment, not unlike the pop art of Warhol and Lichtenstein.  The jazz world waits with baited breath for the next album by Mostly Other People Do the Killing, sure to astound, surprise and nauseate."

- Leonardo Featherweight

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Mostly Other People Do The Killing.



Mostly Other People Do The Killing (Hot Cup)
1. Elliott Mills
2. Between Panic and Desire
3. Jollytown
4. Good Intent
5. King and Queen
6. Aspers
7. Moanin













Shamokin!!! (Hot Cup)
1. Handsome Eddy
2. The Hop Bottom Hop
3. Shamokin
4. Dunkelbergers
5. Factoryville
6. Lover
7. Andover
8. Evans City
9. Baden
10. A Night in Tunisia











This Is Our Moosic (Hot Cup)
1. Drainlick
2. Two Boot Jacks
3. Fagundus
4. The Bats in Belfry
5. East Orwell
6. My Delightful Muse
7. Biggertown
8. Effort, Patience, Diligence
9. Allentown

2 comments:

klakadak said...

i wish to thank you for this amazing post. you're the only one who posted this terrific band, and i am immensely for that. keep up with excellent work and all the best!

juan ant said...

great great band , peter evans is amazing !!Also check tony malaby ideal bread mary halvorson , voladores and so many great NY nujazz groups