One of the finest and most rewarding box sets to cross my desk this year is The Enchanting Guitar of Oscar Moore: The 1945-1965 Years. Released by Fresh Sound, this three-CD set with a terrific liner-notes booklet by Jordi Pujol is both captivating and illuminating.
Best known as the guitarist in the famed Nat King Cole Trio from 1938 to late 1947, Moore kept solid rhythm for the group with brief solo flourishes. In 1947, Moore joined his brother's group, Johnny Moore's Three Blazers. Johnny was a guitarist as well, but more in the R&B camp, and would wind up influencing Chuck Berry. In the mid-1950s, Oscar Moore became a small-group leader and a sideman, but left the music business at decade's end.
On the new box's first CD, Moore is showcased in the Nat King Cole Trio and in a range of R&B groups, including Johnny Moore and His Blazers and with Ray Charles, Illinois Jacquet and vocalist Kitty White. On the second and third CDs, Moore's playing becomes increasingly modern as he leads a duo, trio and quartet.
For too long, Moore has been thought of solely as a swing-era pop player in Cole's popular trio and not much else. He's also been misjudged as a rhythm player with little solo development. This box shows how Moore's style evolved, initially inspired by Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian before moving on to a confident coolness closer to Barney Kessel.
Among the treats on the second and third CDs, we also get to hear terrific sidemen. This includes Ernie Freeman on piano on 11 tracks; Carl Perkins on piano, Joe Comfort on bass and Lee Young on drums on 16 tracks; nine duo tracks with bassist Leroy Vinnegar; and 12 tracks with Gerald Wiggins on piano. And if this isn't enough, there are vocal tracks with Anita O'Day, George Bledsoe (a bassist), Kitty White and Dru Pegee.
This 82-track box is fat with astonishing guitar talent. Moore was one of the first to have a signature sound, dragging notes to make his guitar meow or gulp for emphasis. Moore also was clearly an influence on guitarist Ray Crawford, a mainstay in Ahmad Jamal's earliest trio, and surely rubbed off on guitarists Wes Montgomery and Tal Farlow, among others. What's more, Moore's technique was so soulful, fleet and flawless that he was a favorite of Art Tatum.
Oscar Moore returned to recording in 1965 for a tribute album to the late Nat King Cole and briefly in the 1970s backing Helen Humes. He died in 1981 at age 64.
JazzWax tracks. You'll find The Enchanting Guitar of Oscar Moore: The 1945-1965 Years here. Don't forget to take your special JazzWax discount by adding the code: JAZZWAX_DISCOUNT
JazzWax clips. Here's Moore in the Nat King Cole Trio backing singer Anita O'Day in 1945..
Here's Roses of Picardy in 1952 with Ernie Freeman on piano...
Here's Peg O' My Heart with Freeman in 1952...
Here's Blues in B-Flat in 1954 with Carl Perkins on piano...
Here's There Will Never Be Another You in 1954 with Perkins...
There Will Never Be Another You
Here's the Samson and Delilah Theme in 1954 with Perkins...
And here's That's All in 1965 for the Cole tribute album...
Bonus: Here's the Nat King Cole Trio with Cole at the piano, Moore on Guitar and Johnny Miller on bass playing Better to Be By Yourself in the mid-1940s...
And here are a bunch of Moore film solos...
