Oscar Moore Quartet

The tracks on this album epitomize the laid back West Coast style and not only showcase Moore's rhythmic and harmonic genius, but his composing skills as well. Moore wrote or co-wrote tracks 1, 5, 6, 7, 15 and 16. In fact, the entire ensemble were exceptional musicians with many high-profile accomplishments, but who are sadly forgotten.Please take the time to listen to the sound samples on this page. In them you can clearly hear Moore's personal approach to music, as well as the genius of pianist Carl Perkins and bassist Joe Comfort. Moreover, the drummer is Lee Young, Lester's brother.Moore is sadly less known today. He actually preceded Charlie Christian on electric guitar, but was quickly eclipsed because of Christian's wider exposure. His playing with Nat's early trio, which included bassist Johnny Miller, was one of the reasons for Nat's rise to stardom because all three were virtuoso musicians who managed melody, rhythm and harmony with such sophistication that every musician should study them. Moore's guitar is prominent on every track and may pique the interest of guitarists who stumble across this album. If you want more examples of his playing I recommend these two compilations:  Nat King Cole Trio: Instrumental Classics  and  10-CD Set by Nat King Cole .Pianist Carl Perkins (not to be confused the rockabilly guitarist of Blue Suede Shoes fame) racked up a list of accomplishments in his short life. Although he died of an overdose at 29 in 1958 he was good enough to perform with Clifford Brown in 1954, as well as Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, and fellow West Coast icons Chet Baker and Art Pepper.Because both Moore and Perkins are in the front of the mix on this album you can clearly hear Moore's harmonic genius that worked so well when he was with Nat King Cole. And Perkins is a perfect pianist for Moore's style here.Bassist Joe Comfort is uniformly excellent on each track. He stays under the music, but establishes a strong, swinging pulse. Comfort had the distinction of teaching Charles Mingus bass during Mingus' formative years in Los Angeles. As a drummer I am naturally going to closely listen to Lee Young's playing. His brushwork, in particular, is exceptional.Bottom line is this is relatively obscure album contains some true gems that stand the test of time. The music is as fresh and relevant today as when it was recorded and released in 1954. While it's understandable that Perkins would be forgotten because he passed away before he truly established himself, it is a tragedy that Moore, Comfort and Young have all fallen into obscurity. If the music in the sound samples appeals to you and you decide to purchase it, that will in some small part keep their memories alive.

Maybe only the most experienced jazz musicians and listeners have ever heard about the name of Oscar Moore, and probably just because he used to be part of the famous Nat King Cole Trio. That's a real pity, because Oscar Moore was truely a great musician, and this is clearly showed in this record. He was really able to make a tune sing, and in his improvisational inventions he could play very advanced melodic harmonic and rhythmic ideas, nevertheless always mantaining a pleasant melodic and "straight-simple" style. Every phrase is smart and surprising, the repertoire choice very suitable and interesting, including the Moore originals, the band swings hard, the remastering sounds fair, there is just some clipping distortion on the loudest guitar notes, a bit annoying, but overall this is a greatly recommended record, especially if you like jazz guitar and the transictional jazz era between swing and bebop, like me. It's a shame that Oscar Moore has not recorded more works on his name.

I've long enjoyed Oscar Moore's playing with the King Cole Trio. Really nice to hear him on his own.

1950's Jazz guitarist Carl Perkins ( Not the famous Carl Perkins of "Blue Suede Shoes" Rock 'N' Roll fame). No this Mr. Perkins used to swing his guitar with Nat King Cole. I dig this recording man.

Oscar Moore is one of the most overlooked, great pioneering jazz guitarists thatabsolutely deserves as much recognition as Wes Montgomery or Kenny Burrellor George Benson, etc, etc, etc... & this CD bears witness to his greatness !This is my favorite recording of Oscar as he finally gets "turned up in the mix" &his guitar is the featured instrument [instead of Nat King Cole's virtuoso jazz piano& honey-voiced singing] & his quartet backs him up beauty-fully. These recordingsare raw, live in the studio grooves that sometimes distort the microphones that arerecording the music -yet Oscar's playing shines thru the production flaws... i wonderif they were really meant to be released because of the flaws BUT the flaws do notdetract from the beauty of the guitar playing = awesome jazz guitar.A truly classic Jazz Guitar recording !!!!!

It astounds me how neglected the great Oscar Moore is today when discussing the lineage of master jazz guitarists. The man had everything. Great taste, superb feel for rhythm, endless invention, soul, etc. To my knowledge, these recordings were made sometime in the early 50's, but Moore's ideas still sound contemporary. Listen to the beauty of "Body and Soul" or "Moonlight in Vermont". What about the drive of "Walking Home"? or the soul of "Love for Sale" . I recommend this record to anyone who loves beautiful music.

Oscar Moore was the guitarist for the Nat King Cole Trio. He had an incredible guitar style all his own. He had a sophisticated sense of harmony and could comp some great chord lines as well as being a very hot soloist. I have loved this disc since the very first time I heard it.

演奏内容もさることながら、ｼﾞｬｹｯﾄのﾃﾞｻﾞｲﾝが気に入りました。つまり、ｵｽｶ-・ﾑｰｱが写っているｼﾞｬｹｯﾄではなく、ｲﾗｽﾄ仕様のｼﾞｬｹｯﾄの方です。

1937～47年までナット・キング・コール・トリオに在籍、トリオの名声を支えた。ピックアップ・ギター奏者の第一世代、40年代後半には、メトロノーム、ダウンビート、エスクワイア各誌でジャズギター部門で1位を獲得した職人芸を堪能。ピアノのカール・パーキンスにも注目、左手の不自由さを克服し独自の奏法を獲得したが、自動車事故で30才で夭折した名手の演奏に触れられる数少ない一枚

An interesting CD

Thank you.