James Moody (saxophonist)

James Moody
James Moody performing with Todd Coolman during a jazz festival.
Background information
Born	March 26, 1925(1925-03-26) Savannah, Georgia, United States
Died	December 9, 2010(2010-12-09) (aged 85) San Diego, California, United States
Genres	Jazz Hard bop
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Alto saxophone Tenor saxophone Flute
Years active	1947–2010
Labels	Prestige Novus
Associated acts	Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Barron, Jon Faddis
Website	http://www.jamesmoody.com/

James Moody (March 26, 1925 – December 9, 2010) was an American jazz saxophone and flute player. He was best known for his hit "Moody's Mood for Love," an improvisation based on "I'm in the Mood for Love"; in performance, he often improvised vocals for the tune.

Biography

James Moody was born in Savannah, Georgia. Growing up in New Jersey, he was attracted to the saxophone after hearing George Holmes Tate, Don Byas, and various saxophonists who played with Count Basie, and later also took up the flute. He joined the US Army Air Corps in 1943 and played in the "negro band" on the segregated base. Following his discharge from the military in 1946 he played be-bop with Dizzy Gillespie for two years. Moody later played with Gillespie in 1964, where his colleagues in the Gillespie group, pianist Kenny Barron and guitarist Les Spann, would be musical collaborators in the coming decades.

In 1948 he recorded his first session for Blue Note Records, the first in a long recording career playing both saxophone and flute. That same year he relocated to Europe, where he stayed for three years, saying he had been "scarred by racism" in the U.S. His European work, including the first recording of "Moody's Mood for Love", which became a hit in 1952, saw him add the alto saxophone to his repertoire and helped to establish him as recording artist in his own right, and were part of the growth of European jazz. Then in 1952, he returned to the U.S. to a recording career with Prestige Records and others, playing flute and saxophone in bands that included musicians such as Pee Wee Moore and others. In the 1960s, he rejoined Dizzy Gillespie. He later worked also with Mike Longo.

In a 1998 interview with Bob Bernotas, Moody stated that he believed jazz has definite spiritual resonance.

The James Moody Quartet (with pianist Renee Rosnes, bassist Todd Coolman, and drummer Adam Nussbaum) was Moody's vehicle later is his career.. Moody played regularly with Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars and the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars Big Band and also often collaborated with former Gillespie alumnus, the trumpeter-composer-conductor Jon Faddis; Faddis and Moody worked in 2007 with the WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany under the direction of Michael Abene.

On November 3, 2009, Moody appeared live in an interview conducted in both Italian and English (Moody spoke Italian) with the jazz aficionado, Nick "The Nightfly", on Radio Monte Carlo's late-night "Monte Carlo Nights" program. The chat featured an amiable Moody talking about his career.

Moody was married to Linda Moody; they resided in San Diego. He was an active member of the Bahá'í Faith. In 2005, the Moodys established the Moody Scholarship Fund at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College-State University of New York (SUNY Purchase); the first Moody Scholars, named in 2007, are saxophonist Andrew Gould and trumpeter Maxilmilien Darche. Moody was an NEA Jazz Master and often participated in educational programming and outreach, including with the International Association for Jazz Education, or IAJE.

On November 2, 2010, Moody's wife announced on his behalf that he had pancreatic cancer, and had chosen not to have it treated aggressively. Moody died in San Diego, on December 9, 2010, of complications from pancreatic cancer.

He was divorced twice, and is survived by his wife of 21 years, the former Linda Petersen McGowan; three sons, Regan, Danny and Patrick McGowan; a daughter, Michelle Moody Bagdanove; a brother, Louis Watters; four grandchildren; and one great-grandson.

Two months after his death, Moody won the Grammy Award posthumously for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for his album Moody 4B.

Discography

As leader

• 1949: James Moody's Greatest Hits
• 1951: More of James Moody's Greatest Hits
• 1955: Wail, Moody, Wail (Prestige Records, produced by Rudy Van Gelder)
• 1955: Moody's Mood For Blues
• 1956: Moody's Mood for Love
• 1956: Hey It's James Moody
• 1959: James Moody (Argo Records)
• 1959: Flute 'n' the Blues
• 1962: Another Bag (Argo)
• 1963: Comin' On Strong (Argo)
• 1965: Cookin' the Blues (Cadet Records, with Bernard McKinney, Howard McGhee, Eddie Jefferson)
• 1969: The Blues and Other Colours
• 1969: Don't Look Away Now
• 1970: Teachers (Perception Records)
• 1971: Heritage Hum (Perception)
• 1973: Feelin' It Together
• 1973: James Moody Sax & Flute Man (Jewel Record Corp)
• 1991: "Moving Forward" (Novus)
• 1997: Moody Plays Mancini (Warner Bros. Records)
• 1999: James Moody And The Swedish All-Stars (Concord Records)
• 2004: Homage
• 2005: The World is a Ghetto (Fuel 2000 Records)
• 2009: "Moody 4A (IPO)
• 2010: "Moody 4B" (IPO)

As sideman

With Dizzy Gillespie

• The Cool World (Philips, 1964)
• Dizzy Goes Hollywood (Philips, 1964)
• Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac (Impulse!, 1967)
• Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra - Live at the Royal Festival Hall (1989) Moody solos on "Kush" and "Night in Tunisia"
• The Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars - Dizzy's World directed by Jon Faddis (1999)
• The Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Star Big Band - Things to Come (2001)

With Milt Jackson

• Big Bags (Riverside, 1962)

With Charles Mingus

• Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert (Columbia, 1972)

With Bobby Timmons

• Got to Get It! (Milestone, 1967)

With Tubby Hayes

• Return Visit! (Fontana Records, 1962) Credited as Jimmy Gloomy

With Roberta Gambarini

• "Easy To Love"-(Groovin' High/Kindred Rhythm, 2006) Moody plays tenor sax and sings with Roberta on "Lover Man" and "Centerpiece,"

External links

• Biography of Moody jamesmoody.com, official website
• Biography of Moody University of Pittsburgh-Jazz at Pitt
• Jazz Conversations with Eric Jackson: James Moody from WGBH Radio Boston
• James Moody's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project