If I Had You

In the context of 1965 jazz, Brew Moore was very much out-of-place. A cool-toned tenor whose hero was Lester Young, Moore was able to carve out his own sound but he seemed a decade behind many of the pacesetters of the mid-'60s. He spent his last years in Europe and after 1962 was only captured on record on three occasions, all live dates: a pair of radio broadcasts cut two weeks apart in 1965 (and both reissued on CD by SteepleChase) and a marathon 1971 date that resulted in releases for Storyville and Sonet. Brew Moore's neglect is quite unfortunate for, on evidence of this particular outing in Copenhagen with pianist Atli Bjorn, bassist Benny Nielsen and drummer William Schiopffe, Moore still had a lot to offer. He stretches out quite successfully on four swing-oriented tunes (including the blues "Svinget 14" and Fats Waller's "Zonky") along with a shorter rendition of "Blue Monk." ~ Scott Yanow