Styles Collide: Mostly Other People Do the Killing in Springfield

Although they perform in business suits, Mostly Other People Do the Killing are a subversive ensemble, upending expectations with an impish attitude. Led by bassist and composer Moppa Elliott, MOPDtK is a 19-year old band that includes Ron Stabinsky, piano and Kevin Shea, drums. They entertained 40 people on Saturday, February 19 at Newhouse Hall at the Community Music School of Springfield, as Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares began the second half of their 10th season.

The band, which began in 2003 with trumpeter Peter Evans and saxophonist Jon Irabagon alongside Shea and Elliott, takes the whole of jazz history, puts it through a blender and spits out a mélange. Reminiscent of John Zorn’s jump-cut collages, these modernists add humor and mischievousness while pin-balling from style to style. Despite the change in personnel and instrumentation in 2017, MOPDtK has not deviated from their method. In fact, with Stabinsky and Shea playing Nord electronic keyboard and Nord drum synthesizer, they have added a space-age vaudeville vibe to the proceedings. Stabinsky told me they call it the “revenge of the Nords”.

But their tongue-in-cheek character did not distract from the musicality and inventiveness of the trio. Playing pieces from their brand-new recording, Disasters, Vol. 1, they moved from open, atonal sections to deep swing, from a shmaltzy dirge to classical concision, all within minutes. The effect could make you dizzy, and there were times I wished they would have settled into a groove for longer than they did, but then we’d be listening to a different band. The new record, on Elliott’s own Hot Cup Records, details various disasters that have befallen Pennsylvanian cities. Disasters, Vol. 1, continues Elliott’s tradition of naming all his tunes after places in the Keystone State. (He was born in Scranton.) On Saturday, he gave us thumbnail histories of those tragedies, which ranged from floods and fires to mine and nuclear accidents. “Centralia”, for instance, which is now largely a ghost-town, has had an active underground coal mine fire burning since 1962. Elliott’s tune, a feature for the supremely talented Ron Stabinsky, had a barrelhouse early rock feel.

The music was frenetic at times, with a mad-cap quality achieved by speeding up and slowing down the tempo, or having one of the musicians playing at cross-purpose. Often that person was Shea, a masterfully busy drummer who played with precision and a rock mentality. While piano and bass were playing music right out of a top-hat waving, 1930s musical, the drums were bashing away at twice the tempo and twice the volume. Other times Stabinsky would seem to be soloing on a different tune, only to finally tip-toe towards the established groove. The electronics greatly expanded their sound palate, creating moments of cartoon comedy or otherworldly universes.

Elliott played the straight man, often maintaining the pulse and dictating the changes in direction. The bassist, now in his mid-40s, presents as a conventional, law-abiding musician. But there is something audacious in his unceremonious mash-up of jazz history. In 2014 he created a firestorm of controversy when MOPDtK released, Blue, recreating Miles Davis’ iconic Kind of Blue with a level of faithfulness that fooled experts and lay listeners alike. The liner notes include a reprint of Jorge Luis Borges’ short story, “Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote”, where the fictitious Menard immerses himself so thoroughly in Cervantes’ work as to be able to actually “re-create” it, line for line. The band takes its name from a quote from the inventor Leon Theremin, who after spending years in a Soviet gulag, excused Stalin’s behavior, saying “mostly other people did the killing”. Elliott’s wry humor and irreverent attitude is further reflected in early MOPDtK album covers that parody important records like Ornette Coleman’s This is Our Music and Roy Haynes’ Out of the Afternoon. It’s all part of his rebellious, punk-inspired impulse to “kill yr idols”.

But it’s clear that his post-modern sensibilities are rooted in his love and mastery of the jazz tradition. Throughout the 70-minute set, we heard snippets of ragtime, swing, rock, “lounge”, bop and the Afro-future. The band’s total command of so many jazz dialects can only come from musicians who have studied seriously, practiced diligently and revere the tradition. Elliott told me he is about 30 discs shy of owning all 300 records featuring veteran bassist Sam Jones.

Through the Darkness Lightly: William Hooker Trio in Greenfield

Drummer William Hooker certainly has more energy than your average 75-year old. Hooker made the trip from New York City to Greenfield, Massachusetts and back again in a single day. In between, he and his Trio pinned back the ears of 55 listeners with a recital of high intensity music that lasted for over an hour.

The December 10th concert at Hawks & Reed, which served as an unveiling of Hooker’s new release, Big Moon, was the 9th Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares production since September. There are 8 more concerts are on tap through June. The wall of sound produced by Hans Tammens on guitar, Adam Lane on bass and Hooker, might have unnerved some, but this listener was able to get inside the eye of the maelstrom to revel in the undulating cacophony.

The evening began with the musicians making their way on stage as Hooker produced a spiritualized hum. Soon enough, the trio was firing on all cylinders, fortissimo and then some. After about 15 minutes with no let up, Hooker and Lane left the stage. Tammens unleashed a 10-minute solo that started with some warped, Fahey-inspired folk sounds, but soon picked up energy. Lane followed with his unaccompanied tour de force that included some advanced bow techniques. Hooker took the last solo turn, starting his portion playing sticks on stairs and intoning a poem before ascending to his drum throne. The band returned en masse for the final section, picking up the ferocity where they left off. It was an exhausting and exhilarating evening of music.

Fred, the sound and lighting technician at Hawks & Reed was also feeling the music and took creative license with the visuals. Hooker’s solo, for instance, began with the entire stage in the dark. The effect gave the music a heightened sense of drama. Elsewhere during the show, the lights would dim, then return and move, highlighting the large, red abstract paintings behind the musicians. I felt like I was at a rock show. Hooker told me afterwards he dug the effort.

Lane was making a return engagement to western Mass, having anchored the Avram Fefer Trio at the Shea Theater a month ago. On Friday, Lane went full bore, running his fingers up and down the fingerboard in a successful attempt to match the power and volume of his bandmates. The speed with which he churned out notes was felt, if not precisely heard. But the exercise had the desired effect: creating a palpable energy that was visceral and spontaneous.

Tammens has spent a lifetime developing his richly processed, specially prepared instrument he calls Endangered Guitar, and indeed I have never heard anything quite like it. His rapid strumming and his doctored instrument produced shards of melody in a torrent of sound. I felt inundated, but it had a paradoxically calming effect, like the cascading tumult of a waterfall. Tammens was a late replacement for violinist Charlie Burnham. It is hard to imagine how the concert would have unfolded with different instrumentation, but I’m glad to have had the opportunity to hear an original voice on guitar.

William Hooker has played with a number of creative guitarists, including Nels Cline, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, so I’m sure he was happy to have Tammens in the band. Hooker plays with force and spirit, and his thwacks on the kit brought me to attention. Hooker loves to play alongside silent films and has lots of experience in multi-media settings, so he has a natural affinity for narrative structure. His trio performance in Greenfield unfolded as a story of untamed impulses, full of catharsis and new possibility. That’s no mean feat for a musician of any age, let alone one with lots of laurels to rest on.

Two’s a Crowd: Dan Weiss and Miles Okazaki at Hawks & Reed

The duo recording just released by drummer Dan Weiss and guitarist Miles Okazaki, has been 20 years in the making. That’s how long these two middle-age masters have been keeping musical company. Their tour in support of a new release, Music for Drums and Guitar, kicked off on Wednesday, December 1 at Hawks & Reed in Greenfield, MA.

Although Weiss, 44, and Okazaki, 46, have performed as a duo, played in each other’s bands and been featured on each other’s recordings since the beginning of their careers, this is the first time they have recorded as a twosome. The rapport they have established since they met at the Manhattan School of Music was readily apparent to 65 lucky listeners swept away for over an hour.

The music unfolded in great spools of sound that carried this listener on a shifting bed of melody and cross-rhythms. They performed two pieces, Okazaki’s “The Memory Palace”, which took up the first part of the show, and Weiss’ “MiddleGame”, which concluded the concert. That’s the same format as their double-LP and single CD that serves as the debut release on their new label, Cygnus Recordings.

Each piece had recurring themes and motifs that morphed constantly, but rooted us and gave us our bearings. Okazaki’s composition had blues and rock elements, but there were hints of Brazilian rhythms and swing woven in, as well as periods of profound indeterminacy. Weiss’s written contribution was built upon a couple of simple melodies that regularly changed tempo and rhythmic feel. I heard allusions to Indian music, which makes sense given his fluency on tabla. All evening, I had the sensation of existing in a constant state of “in-between”, betwixt unnamed grooves, holding multiple musical truths at the same time. It was a nice place to be.

There was intermittent applause, but the only interruption was by Okazaki just past the half-way mark to thank us for being there, introduce themselves and to attribute the compositions. Otherwise, it was all flow.

There was a high degree of anticipation and connectivity between the performers, making this more than just a recital by two very talented musicians. This was an actual band, albeit a very small one. Okazaki wove bass lines into his playing, using his thumb to play the bass strings while playing the melody on the higher strings using his other fingers. He also used pedals to maintain a drone or otherwise add to the sound mix.We didn’t actually miss a double-bass. And Weiss played the drums with melody in mind, creating “tunes” on his toms and lessening the need for a second melody instrument. There were sections that displayed the two’s obvious virtuosity, but in the main, their chops were not the primary attraction; what drew us in was their rapport and the musical logic unfurled over the course of the night.

Weiss and Okazaki are in full creative ascendency. Not surprisingly, they are both associated with Pi Recordings, which produces some of today’s most consequential music. (Saxophonist and composer Anna Webber, who also records for Pi, was in attendance.)

Okazaki leads a great quartet called Trickster, recently recorded the complete works of Thelonious Monk for solo guitar, and is an accomplished educator at the University of Michigan and Princeton. (One of his prized students, trumpeter Davy Lazar, was also in attendance.)

Weiss has a forward leaning 14-piece ensemble that has made two critically acclaimed recordings, while his newest project, Starebaby, blends metallic jazz, prog and post-rock. He has studied tabla with Pandit Samir Chatterjee for 25 years and recorded Indian classical music on both tabla and drumset.

Dan Weiss and Miles Okazaki are serious players and thinkers, poised to create at a high level for decades to come. We’re glad to be in their orbit.