Ralph Moore - Who It Is You Are (Savoy, 1993)

 

Ralph Moore, tenor sax

Benny Green, piano

Peter Washington, bass

Billy Higgins, drums

Recorded April 5 & 6, 1993

Sound on Sound, NYC

Engineer, Jim Anderson

Over many decades, the most fundamental configuration of a jazz combo has been the quartet of tenor sax, piano, bass, and drums. All of the major tenor players have weighed in on this format, generating many of the core albums of the genre. Coltrane, Rollins, Getz, Gordon, and many others offer proof of the importance of the classic format.  

Who It IS You Are is Ralph Moore's best entry of the 1990s in the tenor quartet field. His earlier quartet album, 623 C Street (Criss Cross, 1987) made a modest impression, and his role in Ray Brown's Moore Makes Four (Concord, 1991) showed his strengths on traditional repertoire. His excellent quintet albums on Criss Cross (Rejuvenate!, 1989) and Landmark (Images, 1988 and Furthermore, 1990) preceded Who It Is You Are.

I recall playing Who It Is You Are for the first time, and Moore's opening notes on "Skylark" were refreshingly novel and direct, challenging my expectation of how Hogie Carmichael's warhorse should be played. Moore has a personal voice on the tenor that grabs the attention and doesn't let go. I had much the same impression on my first audition of Rejuvenate!

Benny Green is the perfect pianist for this out-front style. More celebrated as a leader than as a supporting musician, Green engages Moore's material with zest. I like Green's version of "Testifyin'," a clever gospel waltz, better that the version on Green's album of the same name.

Moore is relatively short on original compositions, but two of his best are showcased on Who It Is You Are: "Esmeralda" and "Yeah You!" These accompany six more familiar tunes, an obscurity from the pen of Idrees Sulieman ("After Your Call"), and a totally unexpected version of Peter Nero's "Sunday in New York." 

It doesn't matter which tune I sample, my reaction is the same. This is an album with a load of artistic integrity and no false steps. The album is also long at 69:32 minutes, and it this case more is better. The studio sound is detailed and well balanced, features common to most of Jim Anderson's projects.  

For my review of Moore's Rejuvenate! go to:

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