Jazz Ensemble to Perform Feb. 22
The jazz ensemble Mostly Other People Do The Killing (MOPDTK) will perform Friday, Feb. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center. Admission is free.On Friday, Feb. 22, Performance Music at The University of Scranton will host a concert by the innovative jazz ensemble Mostly Other People Do The Killing (MOPDTK).
The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the University’s Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue. Admission is free, with seating on a first-come, first-seated basis.
Performance Music Conductor and Director Cheryl Y. Boga said the concert will include jazz, classical and a variety of forms of improvisational music.
“These guys are some of the most versatile musicians on the scene,” said Boga. “It’s sure to be an excitingly varied and interesting program.”
The core trio of the ensemble is made up of Ron Stabinsky (piano), Moppa (Matthew Thomas) Elliott (bass), and Kevin Shea (drums). MOPDTK have been colorfully described as a “bebop terrorist band.” The ensemble was founded on the principle that jazz shouldn’t just be alive and vibrant, but also fun, engaging and thoroughly contemporary. As Elliott puts it, “Rather than settling into one style or historical period, MOPDTK fuses the entire spectrum of jazz and the various forms of improvised music it has spawned into a single, seamless mélange of uber-jass.”
MOPDTK has released several critically acclaimed albums, including the 2017 releases “Loafer’s Hollow” and “Paint,” which have explored a number of jazz styles, from avant-garde to post-bop to mainstream to traditional.
Both Stabinsky and Elliott are Northeastern Pennsylvania natives. Elliott began playing bass as a teenager, studying with Pocono bassist Tony Marino. He later enrolled in Oberlin College and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music majoring in biology and jazz bass performance in Oberlin’s double-degree program, and taught at the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts for four summers.
Now a resident of New York City, Elliott performs and records regularly with a variety of renowned musicians and ensembles, and also teaches at St. Mary’s High School.
In recent years, Stabinsky has become one of the most sought-after pianists in the Northeastern United States. He performs as a solo, ensemble and collaborative pianist throughout the world in concerts and events spanning a wide variety of genres. In 2016, he released his debut solo album, “Free for One,” which received four stars in DownBeat magazine and tied for the No. 1 debut of the year in the 2016 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll. The album was released by MOPDTK’s record label, Hot Cup Records. Stabinsky is no stranger to Performance Music audiences - most recently, he performed at the University’s 51st Annual Noel Night Concert with the University of Scranton Singers, harpist Marg Davis and trumpeter Mark Gould.
For further information on the concert, call 570-941-7624, email music@scranton.edu or visit scranton.edu/music. For more on MOPDTK, visit hotcuprecords.com.
