Bassist Moppa Elliott is caught here in a pair of recordings in which he is the leader, and while both teams and albums swing, they do so in wildly divergent ways.
On Jonesville, Elliott gives a tribute to legendary bopping bassist Sam Jones, with Bobby Spellman/tp, Dave Taylor/tb, Matt Nelson/as, Stacy Dillard/ts, Kyle bs, Ava Mendoza/g, George Burton/p and Mike Pride/dr on tunes composed or inspired by the icon.
The songs are all free and frisky, with Dillard wailing on “Choice”, Spellman wild on “Unity” and Taylor plunging like J Lo’s neckline on the title tune. A rocking rolling coaster of a ride. WHEW!
Things are a tad more subdued and cohesive on Disasters Vol. II with Sam Kulik/db, Charles Evans/bs, Danny Fox/p and Christian Coleman/dr. There’s a bluesy noir feel with some trombone by Kuli around Fox’s hazy ivories on “Cobb’s Creek” and the pianist hits deep water on “”Marcus Hook”. Evans blows smoke rings on the hip groover “The Donora Smog” and the team is lusciously relaxed as the flat during “Van Meter”.
Sweet and pungent flavors the both simmer and go down well.