Ralph Moore
Encyclopedia
Biography
Ralph Moore was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and grew up in a crowded inner city area. He evinced no particular musical interest until his mother bought him a trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
when he was 13. Ralph studied with the late Alan Briggs, a local musician, in Brixton
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
, and was soon sitting in with pub bands. Briggs had a tenor sax and Ralph fell in love with the look of the instrument. He soon made the switch and quickly mastered the saxophone.
In 1972 he moved to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to live with his American father, and graduated from Santa Maria High School
Santa Maria High School
Santa Maria High School is one of the 4 primary high schools in the city of Santa Maria, California, the United States. Located in the heart of the city, Santa Maria High School is the oldest school in the Santa Maria Valley and is part of the oldest high school district in California. The Santa...
where he played in the jazz orchestra and collected several music awards. In 1975 he enrolled at Berklee College of Music, where he studied with saxophonist Andy McGhee
Andy McGhee
Andy McGhee is a tenor saxophonist and educator.Andy McGhee graduated from New England Conservatory in 1949 and worked for a short time with trumpeter Roy Eldridge and local Boston musician Fat Man Robinson...
, and three years later received the Lenny Johnson Memorial Award for outstanding musicianship from the college.
He was launched on a professional career with a tour of Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
, and later joined Frank Quintero for recording and a tour of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. He moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
City in 1981 and within two months had joined the Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
Quintet for an association that lasted four years and included tours of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Subsequently, Ralph has worked with the quartet of drummer Roy Haynes
Roy Haynes
Roy Owen Haynes is an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Haynes is among the most recorded drummers in jazz, and in a career lasting more than 60 years has played in a wide range of styles ranging from swing and bebop to jazz fusion and avant-garde jazz...
, Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
Dynasty and, most recently, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
. In the summer of 1987 he was preparing for another extensive overseas tour with Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
's Reunion Big Band. On record he has already been heard with guitarist Kevin Eubanks
Kevin Eubanks
Kevin Tyrone Eubanks is an American jazz guitarist and composer who was the leader of the Tonight Show Band with host Jay Leno from 1995 to 2010. He also led The Primetime Band on the short-lived The Jay Leno Show.- Personal background :Eubanks was born into a musical family...
, pianist Bill Mays
Bill Mays
William Allen Mays , best known as Bill Mays, is a jazz pianist from Sacramento, California He came from a musical family and at fifteen he became interested in jazz at an Earl Hines concert....
, trumpeters Valery Ponomarev
Valery Ponomarev
Valery Ponomarev, Russian: Вале́рий Миха́йлович Пономарёв, Valery Mikhaylovich Ponomaryov, is a Russian born jazz trumpeter. He has lived in the United States since 1973.-Career:...
, Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
, and Roy Hargrove
Roy Hargrove
Roy Anthony Hargrove is an American jazz trumpeter. He won worldwide notice after winning two Grammy Awards for differing types of music, in 1997, and in 2002...
, Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
, and, perhaps most significantly, with trombonist Jimmy Knepper
Jimmy Knepper
James M. Knepper was an American jazz trombonist.He was a good friend and arranging/transcribing partner of bassist and composer Charles Mingus. Knepper was twice on the receiving end of Mingus' legendary temper...
on Dream Dancing (album). He is also featured on the Brian Lynch Sextet (album).
Moore was featured on the 1991 Concord Jazz release, "The Ray Brown Trio With Ralph Moore" a Concord Jazz release, subtitled "Moore Makes 4".
As leader
- 1985: Round Trip (Reservoir Records)
- 1987: 623 C Street (Criss Cross JazzCriss Cross JazzCriss Cross Jazz is a Dutch jazz record label, specializing in American jazz.Criss Cross was founded in 1980 by Gerry Teekens, a drummer and German professor. The label, which releases about 20 albums per year, is noted for its simple, block-color cover art...
) - 1988: Rejuvenate (Criss Cross)
- 1988: Images (Landmark RecordsLandmark RecordsLandmark Records was an American jazz record label founded in 1985 by Orrin Keepnews as a successor to Milestone Records. Landmark Records published albums recorded by the Kronos Quartet of music by Bill Evans and Thelonious Monk, as well as straight jazz albums...
) - 1990: Furthermore (Landmark)
- 1993: Who It Is You Are (Savoy RecordsSavoy RecordsSavoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part in popularizing bebop.Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part...
) - 1995: Bebop City (Enja RecordsEnja RecordsEnja Records is a German jazz record label based in Munich, Germany. It was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971....
)
As sideman
WIth SuperblueSuperblue (band)
Superblue was an American jazz ensemble that released two albums for Blue Note Records in 1988 and 1989.-Supeblue:Superblue featured an octet including Bobby Watson, Roy Hargrove, Mulgrew Miller, Frank Lacy, Bill Pierce, Kenny Washington, Don Sickler, Bob Hurst.#"Open Sesame"#"I Remember...
- Superblue 2 (1989, Blue Note RecordsBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
)