The Enchanting Guitar of Oscar Moore · The 1945-1965 Years (3-CD Box Set + 28 pg. booklet)

These 3 CDs and 28-page booklet, compile recordings made by Oscar Moore as a soloist between 1945 and 1965. The first CD features outstanding tracks from his work as both a sideman and a leader, including his collaborations with the Nat King Cole Trio, Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers, Ray Charles, and Illinois Jacquet, spanning from 1945 to 1954. CDs 2 and 3 gather the albums and recordings from 1952 to 1965, offering a complete overview of his remarkable legacy.

Oscar Moore (1916–1981) is best known as the guitarist of the original Nat King Cole Trio, a role he held for ten years beginning in 1937. His innovative use of harmony and chords was essential to the trio’s iconic sound, earning widespread acclaim from critics and fans alike. During this period, he won prestigious awards from Down Beat, Metronome, and Esquire magazines (1944–1948), firmly establishing himself as the premier jazz guitarist of his era.

After leaving Cole's trio in late 1947, Moore joined his brother’s group, Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers, for five years, marking a shift toward the R&B field with occasional forays into jazz. In 1952, he returned to leading small jazz combos, performing primarily in Los Angeles clubs. However, his career never regained its former prominence. Between 1952 and 1955, he recorded for labels such as Standard, Skylark, Tampa, Norgran, and Omegatape, leaving behind a small but impressive body of work.

Moore voluntarily stepped away from the music scene in the mid-to-late 1950s, amid the rise of rock and roll. In 1965, producer David Hubert persuaded him to record an album in tribute to the recently deceased Nat King Cole, marking Moore’s final recording.

Jazz guitar legend Kenny Burrell summarized Moore’s legacy in 1994: "Moore laid down the foundation for future guitarists in jazz and popular music."

—Jordi Pujol

Tracklist

Album details

Press reviews

"Oscar Moore (1916-1981) will always be best remembered for being the guitarist with the Nat King Cole Trio during 1937-1947. His tasteful and fluent guitar is heard on virtually every recording that Cole made with his group during this period including his early hits and many instrumentals. An early electric guitarist, Moore was inspired by Charlie Christian but always had his own sound and thoughtful approach whether playing solos that sounded relaxed at every tempo, interacting with Cole’s piano, or accompanying vocals.

The three-CD set from the Fresh Sound label called The Enchanting Guitar Of Oscar Moore is subtitled the 1945-1965 Years. While Moore is heard on three instrumentals with the King Cole Trio taken from radio transcriptions and, as part of the group, accompanies Anita O’Day on two vocals from 1945 (“Penthouse Serenade” and “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”) he is mostly heard in a variety of other settings.

His brother, guitarist Johnny Moore, led the Three Blazers during 1944-1957. The group had the same guitar-piano-bass instrumentation as the King Cole Trio, recorded dozens of selections, and had some success particularly when Charles Brown was its singer-pianist during 1945-1947. While still a member of Cole’s group, Oscar Moore recorded with his brother’s band on a few occasions including six selections (two with singer Frankie Laine) from 1945 that are included on this reissue. He became a regular member of the Three Blazers (which was now a two-guitar quartet) when he left Cole in late 1947. In retrospect it would have been better for Oscar Moore to go out on his own at that point because Charles Brown soon departed from the group and the popularity of the Three Blazers, despite the fine interplay between the two guitarists, was gradually dropping in popularity. 13 selections from this period (which lasted on and off into 1952) show that the music of the Three Blazers (a lot of riff-based swing pieces along with ballads and blues) was generally quite rewarding if not all that original.

The first disc in the reissue also has Oscar Moore playing “Speedliner” on a session with Illinois Jacquet and backing a variety of singers including the young Ray Charles on “Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand.” The final two CDs contain all of the music from the sessions that Moore led during the remainder of his career (1952-1965). He is in excellent form heading a trio with pianist Ernie Freeman and bassist George Bledsoe, and in a trio/quartet with pianist Carl Perkins, bassist Joe Comfort and sometimes Lee Young or George Jenkins on drums and Mike Pacheco on bongos. However despite the quality of the music and Moore’s excellent playing in his unchanged swing style, the music was only available as radio transcriptions and on the tiny and short-lived Skylark and Tampa labels; four songs appeared as part of a Various Artists release by Verve. A bit unusual was a project made for Omegatape in late 1956 that had Moore (via overdubbing) playing both solo and rhythm guitar while joined by bassist Leroy Vinnegar. That music was only available on reel-to-reel tapes for decades.

None of these recordings did much to advance Oscar Moore’s career. Instead of building on his fame as Nat Cole’s guitarist, Moore gradually faded from the scene, leaving music altogether in 1957 when he began working fulltime as a bricklayer. In 1965 after Nat King Cole’s death, he was persuaded to come out of retirement and make one final album, a trio album with pianist Gerald Wiggins and bassist Joe Comfort that consisted of some songs that had been recorded by his late boss. Still just 48, Oscar Moore sounds fine playing a set of mostly familiar numbers including “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” “The Christmas Song,” and “Sweet Lorraine.” Although he lived another 16 years and reportedly worked a little with Helen Humes in the 1970s, Oscar Moore never recorded again.

This three-CD set, which has a 28-page booklet with definitive liner notes by Fresh Sound’s owner and producer Jordi Pujol, pays tribute to a fine guitarist who deserves to be known beyond his connection with Nat King Cole."

—Scott Yanow (April, 2025)
Nights at the Turntable · Syncopated Times
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"If you ask any jazz fan who’s in the know who is the most underrated guitarist in jazz history, he or she should answer “Oscar Moore” if they know what they’re talking about. (The second most underrated is his brother Johnny, but that’s for another story and box set reissue).

Best known for his tasty and lyrical work with Nat King Cole, Moore (1916-1981) supplied the subtle rhythms and concisely swinging solos for countless stars and sessions. This 3 disc collection highlights his work mostly post Cole, and focusing on some wonderfully obscure bop, blues and R&B sessions.

As for his work with Cole and bassist Johnny Miller, Moore is a true joy on the instrumentals “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “You Name It”. Vocalist Anita O’Day joins in with a bouncy “Penthouse Serenade” as well. Much of the rest of the material here consists of pianists/singers that sounded quite a bit like Cole, although a bit bluesier, such as Charles Brown (who hired the brother/guitarist BTW), and digs in deep for “Nightfall” and “Cold In Here”. Even a young Ray Charles has the Cole bug as he croons on “Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand”. More R&B and baritone vocalists like Frank Ervin or Nelson Alexander join with Johnny and Oscar for “Bed Time” and “Cloudy Skies” respectively, while tenor saxist Illinois Jacquet cruises on “Speedliner” and sassy Kitty White has fun with “Jesse James”. His teaming with brother Johnny and his Three Blazers include some rich baritone vocals by 'Keys Mahon' on “You’re Getting Tired”, Billy Valentine on a rollicking “Shuffle Shuck” and Nelson Alexander on a ebullient “You Don’t Have To Treat Me Like A Stranger”.

In trio and quartet settings, Moore teams up with pianist Ernie Freeman and bass/vocalist George Bledsoe on Cole inspired “What Can I Say After I Say I’m Sorry” and “Too Marvelous For Words” while instrumentals “Peg O’ My Heart” and “Soft Touch” are bon mots. Moore then brings together Carl Perkins/p, Joe Comfort/b, Lee Young/dr and Mike Pacheco/bongoes for some bouncy “Up Tempo”, a rainbow’d “Body And Soul”, reclining “The Nearness Of You” and strolling “Walking Home” with Moore in a similar quartet for a hip “ Oscar’s Blues” and glistening “A Foggy Day”. Most fun are a collection of duets with bassist Leroy Vinnegar, with some wonderful interplay on “Sweet Lorraine” and a haunting “ Angel Eyes”. Last is a 1965 trio outing with Gerald Wiggins/p and Joe Comfort/b for a nice and bluesy “Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good To You”, and some clever originals like “Old King Cole” and “Beautiful Moons Ago”.

The 27 page booklet is encyclopedic in the background information, and the session listings are essential for putting all of the pieces together. The only thing that’s missing is a book of the solos-who’s volunteering?!?"

—George W. Harris (March 6, 2025)
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