Ralph Moore

[Late]

Any fans? What albums?

Moore was on a Blakey tribute called Message from the early 90's. That's where I first heard him. Liked his sound and articulation. Haven't heard him on anything else.

[Tom Storer]

I remember Moore mostly from live dates, particularly with Roy Haynes' quartet (they made a nice album recorded in Paris, if you can find it). I have his first LP somewhere in the basement, and some others he's on too. He disappeared into the wilds of California, if I understand correctly, where he can be found occasionally in clubs. Is that still true?

A very fine player. I regret his disappearance from the international scene.

[bertrand]

Isn't he part of the Tonight Show band? I know I saw him in there not too long ago.

Bertrand.

[king ubu]

He was with J.J. Johnson for a while (80s, too, I think? or into the 90s?) but those Universal (Gitanes/Universal France/EmArcy/whatever sub-label it was) are rather hard to find by now.

He's on the fine "Let's Hang Out" (also featuring Jimmy Heath, Stanley Cowell, Lewis Nash and Terence Blanchard, in addition to the working group of Renee Rosnes, Rufus Reid and Victor Lewis).

And then he's on the live recording "Quintergy" (reissued last year or the year before in one of the Universal France series with those glossy digipacks), of which exists a companion volume, "Standards", which I own and like quite some. That one I have in its old Antilles CD incarnation, I'm not sure it has been reissued since.

[thomastreichler]

Ralph Moore is fine on Ray Brown's "Moore Makes 4" from 1991 on Concord. Completing the "4" are Gene Harris on piano and Jeff Hamilton on drums.

[mikeweil]

Very fine tenor player! I've seen him live with Cedar Walton's Eastern Rebellion - I know he's on several of Walton's CDs, but all are oop. Very good music, all of them.

[Dan Gould]

I'm a big fan of Ralph's music and was very disappointed when he left for the greener pastures of the Tonight Show Orchestra. Since its been quite a while since he recorded, you'd have to search Amazon Marketplace or Half.com to find much, but in addition to the recordings mentioned above, I'd add:

Eastern Rebellion, Mosaic and Simple Pleasures

He had two strong recordings with Landmark that 32 Jazz put out as The Complete Landmark Recordings

Who It Is You Are is also very nice, with a cover reminiscent of another more famous recording:

He was part of a one-off for Mons Records called West Coast Jazz Summit, along with Eric Reed, Jeff Hamilton and Robert Hurst. This page has some sound links. I got that recording from Cadence, I have no idea if they are still stocking it, but the Mons website seems to indicate its still in print.

I've long had the feeling that Chuck, and perhaps to a lesser extent Jim have less than warm feelings for Ralph, so maybe they'd like to share them?

[JSngry]

Fine player, just not of interest to me. No connection.

Just one of those things.

[Chuck Nessa]

I can recommend a couple of things I found pleasant - his first Criss Cross date (especially the duets with David Kikoski added as cd bonus material) and a Kenny Barron quartet date also on Criss Cross. Honest player. FWIW, he's a very nice guy.

[Late]

Thanks for the recs guys. Listening to sound samples, I'd say the Denon set (with the Something Else-type cover) is what I'll look for first.

[kh1958]

Perhaps hard to find but he's on Horace Silver's Silveto LP Spiritualizing the Senses, sharing tenor duties with Eddie Harris, which is a straight ahead instrumental session, and a good one.

[Justin V]

I just picked up Cedar Walton's Composer, a sextet date with Ralph Moore, Vincent Herring, Roy Hargrove, Christian McBride and Victor Lewis. I had only previously heard Moore on Eastern Rebellion's Mosaic and Roy Hargrove's Diamond in the Rough. Although I knew how Moore sounds on tenor, I wasn't prepared for what a beautiful sound Moore gets out of the soprano saxophone. I'd love to hear more of him on soprano. With such a strong lineup playing all Walton compositions and sounding so inspired, I can't argue with the Penguin Guide's four-star rating.

EDIT: No 'The' in the album's title.

Edited August 28, 2013 by Justin V

[Dan Gould]

Justin, I have to recommend this one for you:

Native Colours - One World (Concord)

IIRC, Ralph plays more soprano than on almost any leader date. Its also a bit more edgy/post-hard bop, at least on several of the originals.

Amazon has multiple cheap copies.

[Justin V]

Justin, I have to recommend this one for you:

Native Colours - One World (Concord)

IIRC, Ralph plays more soprano than on almost any leader date. Its also a bit more edgy/post-hard bop, at least on several of the originals.

Amazon has multiple cheap copies.

I must've not clicked on 'Post' when I typed my reply a couple of days ago. Thanks, Dan. I'm looking forward to checking it out.