Mostly Other People Do the Killing (MOPDtK) was founded by bassist/composer Moppa Elliott in 2003 as an attempt to reconcile his love of the jazz tradition and avant-garde experimentation. Joined by founding member Kevin Shea on drums and pianist Ron Stabinsky, MOPDtK will perform new compositions and other surprises. MOPDtK has twice won the Downbeat Magazine Critics' Poll as "Rising Star Ensemble" of the year as well as numerous other honors and accolades.

Moppa Elliot's Advancing on a Wild Pitch:

A quintet made up of denizens and baseball fans of Western Queens playing the compositions of Moppa Elliott. "For [Advancing on a Wild Pitch] , he (Elliot) leads a quintet through tracks culled from the MOPDTK catalog, stripping away some of the originals’ stridency to reveal the purity of their melodies. Elliott’s choice of horn players keeps things interesting; trombonist Sam Kulik and baritone saxophonist Charles Evans’ witty interplay gives “St. Mary’s Proctor” the feel of a New Orleans speakeasy, while Kulik’s mournful tone finds unexpected depths of emotion on the incongruously titled “Can’t Tell Shipp From Shohola.”- Andy Hermann, Downbeat

Sam Kulik (tb), Charles Evans (bs), Danny Fox (p), Moppa Elliott (b), Christian Coleman (d).

Watson & Julius Masri:

watson (b. 1985 in lenapehoking, turtle island) is a bass clarinetist and band-leader of the improvised music collective “the great blue heron”. trained by marshall allen (director of the sun ra arkestra) from 2014-2019, and a proud member of philadelphia’s improvised music scene since 2010, watson helped premier william parker’s “flowers in a stained glass window” in philadelphia in 2014 and was part of parker’s “tone motion theatre” at brooklyn’s roulette the following year. he is a member of heru shabaka ra's punk-avant-garde band “sirius juju” which played jamaaladeen tacuma’s “outsiders festival” in 2016 and 2018, and was selected to participate in the international sound art residency “residencia sao joao” in brazil in 2019. watson is featured on the brahja album “watermeloncholia”(2022), along with james brandon lewis, which was presented at the 2023 vision festival. in 2023, watson played with moor mother, luke stewart’s silt trio and the ben lamar gay ensemble at amsterdam’s bimhuis. he is currently working to complete studies at the conservatory of amsterdam and lives with his partner and two small children.

Julius Masri is a Philadelphia based multi instrumentalist, and performer/composer for the city's dance community at large. His music focuses on improvisatory methods and syncretic / linguistic exchanges within various musical languages including Jazz, Metal, AfroCuban, Experimental Noise, and Arabic music. Born in Tripoli, Lebanon, he moved to the States in 1990 and picked up drumming a year later. He studied with Philadelphia instructors Carl Mottola, Elaine Hoffman-Watts, and as an undergraduate at Bard College, with AACM's Thurman Barker, Richard Teitelbaum, and Joan Tower. Julius plays drums, circuit modified Casio keyboards, Oud, Kamancheh (aka Rabab, Spike Fiddle), and various other instruments. He currently performs in groups such as grind/crust metal band Night Raids, free jazz groups Sirius Juju and Dromedaries, trombone and synth duo Superlith, and more. He has performed with Henry Grimes, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Thurman Barker and members of the Sun Ra Arkestra. Julius is a recipient of a 2022 Yaddo Fellowship for composition, the 2022 university of the arts creative research and innovation grant, and project funding via pew center for arts & heritage, as well as Swarthmore college and the Andrew W. Mellon foundation.

venue is wheelchair accessible