Bassist, composer, and bandleader Moppa Elliott approaches the entire breadth of jazz music with equal parts reverence and playful subversion. These attitudes are present on his latest two releases, Jonesville and Disasters Vol. 2, both out now on Elliott’s own Hot Cup Records.

For those unfamiliar with Elliott’s work, he often takes traditional jazz from various eras and reinterprets it with the knowledge of a modern-day musician. While some modern jazz musicians get accused of being overly academic, Elliott’s releases with his various ensembles are always exuberant and playful affairs, the melodic richness of his classic jazz influences providing a balance to any extended or avant-garde techniques the players choose to employ. 

Jonesville is performed by Elliott’s nonet Acceleration Due to Gravity, which features Bobby Spellman on trumpet, Dave Taylor on trombone, Matt Nelson, Stacy Dillard and Kyle Saulnier on saxophones, Ava Mendoza on guitar, George Burton on piano, and Mike Pride on drums. The album serves as a tribute to bassist and composer Sam Jones, who penned three of the pieces here, while the other four tunes are Elliott originals. Surprisingly, Elliott points to hip-hop artists such as Wu-Tang Clan, DJ Premier, and the Roots as important influences on the album as well.

Elliott’s compositions here utilize “loops” that are constantly changing, both through improvisation and written variations. The sound nevertheless feels quite traditional, Jones’ soulful style grounding each song, whether written by him or not. Jones’ work with Nat and Cannonball Adderley, King Curtis, and Ike Quebec, along with a slew of others, makes complete sense here. 

The most obvious subversion of tradition comes in the form of Mendoza’s electric guitar work. Her tone definitely comes from the rock tradition, yet she maneuvers the chord changes like a jazz artist. Her solo on “Stack of Dollars” is particularly powerful, capturing the searing outside blues of Sonny Sharrock. The song also features some fairly skronky sax work from Matt Nelson.

Disasters Vol. 2 is performed by Elliott’s quintet Advancing On A Wild Pitch, featuring Danny Fox on piano, Sam Kulik on trombone, Charles Evans on saxophone, and Christian Coleman on drums. Like on Disasters Vol. 1, each tune is named for a different Pennsylvania town that experienced some sort of calamity throughout its history. The first volume appeared under the Mostly Other People Do The Killing moniker, although the group was configured as a piano trio rather than its usual larger lineup. There the trio, playing quite traditionally, was interrupted by strange electronic outbursts that seemed to recognize a catastrophe’s interruption of normalcy. This newer release is not quite as obvious in concept, but is still a fascinating album. 

The quintet is clearly inspired by the classic jazz ensembles of the early ’60s, and the flexibility to stretch out improvisations that those units enjoyed. Perhaps the disaster theme then manifests as the risks the soloists are able to take. Yet soul jazz influences sit equal to the hard bop, and each tune is still run through with great melodies.

“Powelton Village” nimbly speeds up and slows down as it is played yet never comes across as overly complicated. The soloing is laid-back without being overly simplified. It’s a beautiful balance. Other tunes employ similar rhythmic trickery: “Cobb’s Creek” adds and subtracts beats in an almost imperceptible manner, while “Marcus Hook” utilizes a 12/8 time signature while still sounding like a blues standard. The whole album is another example of Elliott’s ability to balance old and new, to surprise the listener with the familiar.

These are relatively short albums, but this plays to their strengths. Disasters Vol. 2 runs just shy of forty minutes and is a perfect listening experience, never becoming taxing. Jonesville clocks in at just twenty-two minutes — effectively an EP — and still feels like the perfect length. Perhaps given the increased density of the ensemble playing, Elliott wanted to avoid exhausting the ear of the listener.

I am often surprised by the number of seasoned jazz listeners unfamiliar with Moppa Elliott’s work. Is he to traditional for the modern jazz aficionado, or too experimental for the traditionalist? His music tends to avoid such questions through sheer listening pleasure. He focuses on making great, enjoyable music and his albums are a joy to hear, regardless of any intellectual concerns. 

—Todd Manning