Description
TitleFreddie Moore oral history interview
IntervieweeMoore, Freddie
InterviewerWelburn, Ron
Date Created1983, 1983-04
Note(s)b Little Washington, NC, 20 Aug 1900; d New York, 3 Nov 1992). American drummer and singer. He grew up in New Bern, North Carolina, and played drums from the age of 12. His first work was in traveling shows, playing for carnivals, circuses, and minstrel shows; he then spent seven years as the house drummer at a theater in Birmingham, Alabama, where he played for silent films in a duo with an organist and accompanied such visiting singers as Ida Cox, Ma Rainey, and Bessie Smith. He left Birmingham with the show Charleston Dandies to tour the South and perform in Havana. Around 1927 he joined Charlie Creath in St. Louis, after which he led his own seven-piece band at the Savoy, Detroit, where he appeared as Buddy Moore (a nickname he had acquired nearly a decade earlier, while with a minstrel show). After playing in New York and on tour with Eubie Blake’s big band (c1928) he returned to New York to work with Wilbur Sweatman (1928 - 31); he also played drums at a dancing school. In 1931 - 2 Moore toured with King Oliver and from 1933 to 1937 he led his own trio (with Pete Brown and Don Frye), working mainly at the Victoria Café in New York. In May 1937 he played briefly with John Kirby at the Onyx club.Later Moore worked with Lem Johnson and again with his own band. In the mid-1940s he played with Art Hodes, including engagements in a trio with either Max Kaminsky or Wild Bill Davison at the Village Vanguard, and with Sidney Bechet (1945, alongside Bunk Johnson, and 1947); he also served as the house drummer at Jimmy Ryan’s. He then performed with Wilbur De Paris (c1948), Bob Wilber (1948), Hodes again (at the Blue Note in Chicago, 1950), Bechet (in Philadelphia, also 1950), and the trombonist Conrad Janis (1951). A spell as house drummer for jam sessions at the Stuyvesant Casino was followed by a second period with De Paris (1952 - 4). Moore toured Europe with Mezz Mezzrow (1954 - 5) and again with Sammy Price (from late 1955); while there he played with Bechet as a member of Price’s band (May 1956) and accompanied the Nicholas Brothers in Paris. He continued to work as a freelance into the early 1980s, performing with such musicians as Tony Parenti (1968 -70) and Roy Eldridge (summer 1971); in 1981 he made his first album as a leader. Unable, on account of ill-health, to play a full drum set in the mid-1980s, he concentrated on washboard, working extensively at the Red Blazer. He finally retired from this venue in March 1992, but made one final appearance in August, on the occasion of his 92nd birthday.H. Rye ; B. Kernfield, 'Moore, Freddie [Buddy
Note(s)Tape 6 Side 1 & 2 - music only
Table of ContentsPage numbers here indicate page numbers for "Read Online" interface. Page numbers listed on transcripts may differ.
Tape 1 Side 1...pp. 2-22
Tape 1 Side 2...pp. 22-41
Tape 2 Side 1...pp. 42-60
Tape 2 Side 2...pp. 60-78
Tape 3 Side 1...pp. 78-97
Tape 3 Side 2...pp. 97-116
Tape 4 Side 1...pp. 116-133
Tape 4 Side 2...pp. 133-151
Tape 5 Side 1...pp. 151-170
Tape 5 Side 2...pp. 171-185
Tape 6 Side 1...music only
Tape 6 Side 2...music only
CollectionJazz Oral History Project
Organization NameRutgers University. Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University. Institute of Jazz Studies
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PlaceBrooklyn, NY
