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Moppa Elliott

I was born on September 13, 1978, the first son of David and Carolyn Elliott in Scranton, Pa. Incidentally, they named me Matthew Thomas Elliott, not Moppa. My parents are both college instructors and intense music lovers, so I was able to hear a lot of music growing up. After a brief introduction to the piano, I started to play the trombone in the sixth grade, and after deciding a few years later that I wanted to also play an instrument with strings, I was given an electric bass. When I was about 17, I fixed up my father’s old acoustic bass in order to audition for a summer program. I then began to study the bass seriously with Pocono resident Tony Marino.

In the fall of 1997, I enrolled in both Oberlin College and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music majoring in biology and Jazz bass performance in Oberlin’s double-degree program. While there I was able to record my first CD, Pinpoint and to gain some experience playing in Cleveland OH for about 3 years. I was also fortunate enough to teach at the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts for four summers.

I finished school in the winter of 2001, and moved to New York City the following summer. Here in New York, I have been able to play and record with some great musicians and to continue teaching at St. Mary’s High School.

My group, "Mostly Other People Do the Killing," has just released its third album, This Is Our Moosic on Hot Cup Records.

Awards

Nominated by Jazz Journalist Association - Best Small Ensemble 2007 DownBeat Critics' Poll - Rising Star Ensemble

Gear

c. 1880 Bohemian bass
GK combo amp
Eminence Bass Warwick Custom

Acceleration Due To Gravity: Jonesville

Read "Jonesville" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
February 16, 2024

Bassist, composer and arranger Moppa Elliott's uniquely-titled nonet Acceleration Due To Gravity presents Jonesville a gravity- defying jazz odyssey. It pays a captivating homage to influential bassist Sam Jones by weaving a sonic tapestry which transcends the boundaries of conventional jazz. In this brief seven-track, twenty-one-minute outing, four compositions are by Elliott, with the remainder being Sam Jones' originals. The members of the octet who participated in this unusual musical excursion are trumpeter Bobby Spellman, trombonist Dave Taylor, alto saxophonist ...

Album Review

Moppa Elliott's Acceleration Due To Gravity: Jonesville

Read "Jonesville" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
February 11, 2024

Whatever 'script renegade bassist/composer Moppa Elliot takes on a daily basis, he should be made to share with the rest of the world. Whatever that tonic, whatever that pill, whatever that gumbo scented elixir is, let us have it now. Elliot may not want to open up his private stash to the public, but he sure knows how to let it fly in the music he and his nonet--Acceleration Due to Gravity--put forth on the rightly raucous and ...

Album Review

Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Disasters Vol. 1

Read "Disasters Vol. 1" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
March 19, 2022

Rest assured, Mostly Other People Do the Killing get the joke and on Disasters Vol.1, the amorphous collective's eleventh disc and this trio's riotous second, you either get the joke too or you don't. It really makes no never-mind to this eclectic bunch because MOPDtK know instinctively that, if you don't throw yourself off balance from time to time, (like every single time the opportunity presents itself) you're going to get deeply sucked into the muck and mire of human ...

Album Review

Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Disasters Vol. 1

Read "Disasters Vol. 1" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
March 13, 2022

Mostly Other People Do the Killing has a way of making great music sound accidental. So Disasters Vol. 1 is as suitable a name for this collection as it would be for any of their fourteen albums. In past versions, they have boasted big names such as Jon Irabagon, Peter Evans, and rising talents like guitarist Brandon Seabrook. Drummer Kevin Shea and bassist/composer Moppa Elliot, are two-thirds of the current group and the remaining original members of MOPDtK. Ron Stabinsky ...

Album Review

Mostly Other People Do The Killing: Disasters Vol. 1

Read "Disasters Vol. 1" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
February 26, 2022

Moppa Elliott's gonzo-surrealist jazz group, Mostly Other People Do The Killing, returns for a second album in its piano trio format with Elliott on bass, Ron Stabinsky on piano and Kevin Shea on drums. They are up to their usual tricks here, playing slapstick jazz which flits deliriously through all types of styles and sub-genres like an old Warner Brothers cartoon soundtrack. However there is a more serious added element on this album. Elliott, as he often does, named all ...

Album Review

Bryan Murray & Jon Lundbom: Beats by Balto! Vol. 2

Read "Beats by Balto! Vol. 2" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
November 14, 2021

Spinning Beats by Balto Vol. 2 in the midst of a global pandemic brings to mind a quote from Zack de la Rocha: “Fear is your only god on the radio." The Rage Against The Machine frontman is begging you to turn off your radio, but somehow you just can't turn off Balto!'s beats. The brain-child of guitarist Jon Lundbom and Bryan Murray (Bryan And The Haggards, Big Five Chord), the spine-tingling essence of this music confirms what ...

Album Review

Moppa Elliott: Jazz Band/Rock Band/Dance Band

Read "Jazz Band/Rock Band/Dance Band" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
May 23, 2019

Bassist Moppa Elliott is best known as the leader of the surrealistic jazz group, Mostly Other People Do The Killing, but his musical universe, encompassing work with symphony orchestras and new music ensembles, stretches much farther than that band's frantic music. This is reflected in this 2 CD set of Elliott leading three different types of groups, a jazz band, a rock band and a dance band. All three ensembles continue Elliott's off-center sensibilities, but in different ways. ...

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Contest

Announcing the Winners of the Hot Cup "Mostly Other People Do the Killing - Forty Fort" Giveaway

Source: All About Jazz
May 15, 2010

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Contest

Enter the Hot Cup "Mostly Other People Do the Killing - Fort Fort" Giveaway

Source: All About Jazz
April 14, 2010

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the Hot Cup Records “Mostly Other People Do the Killing - Forty Fort“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on May 13th. Click here to enter the contest

(Following Moppa Elliott at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.)

Good luck! Your Friends at Hot Cup Records

About MOPDtK MOPDtK formed in the fall of 2003 in New York City. ...
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190

Performance / Tour

Moppa Elliott Jazz History Scrambled, with Love and Respect

Source: Michael Ricci
August 15, 2009

Theres a bustling, ostentatious impiety in the music of Mostly Other People Do the Killing. Led by the bassist Moppa Elliott, its a jazz quartet with a diligent grasp of history but an anarchic take on convention.

At Zebulon in Brooklyn late on Thursday night, the group riffled through jazz idioms with hammy geniality, like an impressionist flaunting celebrity voices. The unruliness didnt remotely make it a mess.

Mr. Elliott and his band mates the trumpeter Peter Evans, the saxophonist ...
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"A powerhouse band... populated with virtuosos who like to play rough" --Time Out New York (Apr. 2005)