Mostly Other People Do The Killing - Red Hot (Hot Cup, 2013)
Personnel:
Peter Evans: trumpet
Jon Irabagon: saxophones
Moppa Elliott: bass
Kevin Shea: drums
and
David Taylor: bass trombone
Ron Stabinsky: piano
Brandon Seabrook: banjo/electronics
Tracklisting:
01. The Sickshinny Shimmy
02. Zelienople
03. Red Hot
04. King of Prussia
05. Turkey Foot Corner
06. Seabrook, Power, Plank
07. Orange is the Name of the Town
08. Gum Stump
09. Bird-in-Hand
Yes, our heroes are at it again, mock-saluting - and sincerely saluting -
every jazz movement in existence and naming songs after Pennsylvania
towns. This time the main focus is on the hot jazz of the 1920s, but
pretty much every other sub-genre of jazz gets a shout-out. You know
the drill. If Woody Allen ever went back to making the kind of comedies
he wrote and directed at the beginning of his film career (it would be a
self-conscious move of revisionism that would surely suck but),
MOPDTK's “Red Hot” would make the perfect soundtrack for them.
Kicking off with “The Shickshinny Shimmy” (Hello PA!), the band moves in
and out of the 1920s w/ characteristic speed and smart chops, featuring
the super-hot rolling dixieland banjo strum of new member
Brandon
Seabrook. The standard line-up is also augmented this time around by
the magnificent
Ron Stabinsky on piano and bass trombone star
David
Taylor. The in-and-out pattern becomes fully established on
“Zelienople,” which opens with a drum solo from the always astonishingly
excellent
Kevin Shea. The decades crash into each other from 40 years
apart, as Shea plays free underneath some good ol' hot jazz.
Sonny
Murray plays with
King Oliver for awhile and then
Bill Evans shows up.
Then
Bill Dixon joins in, courtesy of
Peter Evans (who was also King
Oliver, of course). How this can seem like par-for-the-course for any
band is beyond all logic, but this band calls it home.
The title track begins with electronic gurgles and blasts alternating
with Seabrook's banjo. Then the band joins in, full dixieland, full
Jelly Roll, full fun. These smart asses take the piss out of the
earnest hot jazz revisionist groups so well, but there is a slight
feeling of “sore winners” about it. They're running past the other guys
at the finish line and giving them the finger and laughing while they
do it. I'm not saying I don't approve; I'm just saying that's what it
sounds like.
On “King of Prussia” Stabinski does a piano solo mash-up of various
pianists / songwriters.
Scott Joplin and
Joe Jackson stand out pretty
obviously. (He does a mean
McCoy Tyner during “Orange is the Name of
the Town.” This guy can do anybody.) The whole band plays a slow bawdy
stomp while Seabrook bows his banjo through a reverb effect, giving the
1920s a touch of 1950s sci-fi. Inexplicably, the track winds up in
lounge jazz territory.
Band leader
Moppa Elliot takes a bass solo at the beginning of “Turkey
Foot Stomp,” which takes on a Foghorn Leghorn vibe as the music
traverses through the barnyard carelessly and confidently. The harsh,
zero-sustain attack of a banjo lends itself well to the overall
landscape, often providing relief when things get a little too
self-conscious or serious. On “Seabrook, Power, Plank” this tack goes
so far as sounding a bit like Naked City at Dollywood.
Saxophonist
Jon Irabagon opens “Gum Stump,” a traditional 12-bar blues
(no foolin') with a whole bunch of over-the-top freakouts in it. The
12-bar blues format is held steadily for over five minutes; and then
it's back to business as usual. Cross
Cab Calloway with
Django
Reinhardt in a Shakey's Pizza in New Orleans and you get “Bird-In-Hand,”
the album's closing track. It also stands as the most concise piece of
music on the disc; and in a perfect world it would be a hit single on
top forty radio. (Does that still exist?)
Red Hot is an irreverent tribute to 100 years of jazz
masquerading as a take-off on 1920s dixieland. It could have only been
conceived at this time, where the “jazz wars” between the sub-genres are
(finally!) almost non-existent. I can't imagine any other band
attempting such an idea, let alone succeeding in its execution and
making it seem so effortless.[
Free Jazz]
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