Russell “Big Chief” Moore: Stellar Native American Jazzman

There aren’t many Native Americans who became big names in the world of jazz. Among the few, Mildred Bailey, the “Rockin’ Chair Lady”, came from the Coeur d’Alene tribe in the Pacific Northwest. Guitarist Jimi Hendix along with singers Cher, Tina Turner Della Reese, and Keely Smith all could trace their lineage to the Cherokee tribe. Illinois Jacquet was Sioux. Bassist Oscar Pettiford’s mother was Choctaw, and his father was half-Cherokee. Vocalist Kay Starr’s father was a full-blooded Iroquois. Another name to add to that list is Russell “Big Chief” Moore from the Pima (Akimel O’odham) tribe who grew up in the Gila River Indian Community just south of Phoenix, Arizona. He had a 50-year career that extended from the mid-1930s with Lionel Hampton’s big band to two tours with Louis Armstrong to playing for East Coast socialites in Lester Lanin’s Orchestra. An exhibit at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix that commemorated Arizona’s statehood centennial in 2012 recognized Moore as one of the state’s foremost musicians as well as marking the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1912. His horn is now on display at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City, which is located in the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in Lower Manhattan. Artist Philip Stein, whose work decorates the back wall of the Village Vanguard in Greenwich Villa