The members of
the Ray Brown Trio (the bassist-leader, pianist
Gene Harris and drummer
Jeff Hamilton) all grew to love the playing of tenor-saxophonist
Ralph Moore when the four were traveling as members of Gene Harris' big band. On this
Ray Brown CD, the veteran bassist virtually turned over the entire session to
Moore. The quartet performs a variety of veteran standards (including some from the bop era such as
Charlie Parker's "Quasimodo" and
Dizzy Gillespie's "The Champ") plus
Wes Montgomery's "SOS" and
Brown's "Ralph's Boogie."
Ralph Moore rises to the occasion and shows that, even though his sound is inspired by
John Coltrane, he was fully capable of playing tunes from the swing and bop era;
Moore sounds delighted to have
the Ray Brown Trio as his backup group. This is a fine collaboration that works quite well. ~ Scott Yanow