Ralph Moore - Rejuvenate! (Criss Cross, 1988)

This post is by Dan

Ralph Moore (ts, ss); Steve Turre (tb, conch); Mulgrew Miller (p); Peter Washington (b); Marvin "Smitty" Smith (d)

Recorded February 19, 1988

The Penguin Guide to Jazz drew my attention to Ralph Moore. The editors tend to take special note of British jazz artists, and Moore was born in the UK in 1956 to an American father and British mother. At age 15 he moved to California to live with his father. He later studied music in Boston and launched his performance and recording career based in the U.S. 

Rejuvenate! was Moore's third album as a leader. I still remember buying it at Tower Records on a trip to Washington D.C. and listening to it on headphones in my hotel room. The title track, composed by Bobby Porcelli, blew me away. Mulgrew Miller's thundering chords and the sax-bone harmony still impress me as one of the great openings for a jazz album. I love Rejuvenate!'s blend of tenor and trombone timbres, a sound that takes me back to the early Jazz Crusaders album that I wore out in my teens. 

It's hard to compare Moore to other tenorists because he possesses an original sound. That sound has fit well with numerous groups over the past 35 years. He tends to stay within conventional limits on his solos, communicating his message through his consistently imaginative tone. Moore's other records are well worth investigating, including a recent CD titled Three Score (WJ3, 2016). 

Steve Turre makes a huge contribution to Rejuvenate! He doubles on conch shells, which give off an eerie soft glow but work surprisingly well as a jazz solo instrument. We've praised his side man role with Woody Shaw in previous posts. Turre's recent series of albums on the HighNote label are uniformly excellent.  

Rejuvenate! was released on both LP and CD. The CD contains an extra track, Turre's "Melody for Mr. C."