Oscar Moore (1916-81) will always be best remembered for being the guitarist with the Nat King Cole Trio during 1937-47. 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 1944-57. 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 1945-47. 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
