James Moody Saxophone, Flute, Vocals, Educator Born March 26, 1925 in Savannah, GA
Photo by Tom Pich

Information for Presenters

Available for:
Concert performance, speaker/panelist, public interviews, educator, clinic/masterclass, artist-in-residence.

Bands and instrumentation:
Quartet; soloist w/big band; Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band.

Speaking topics:
Jazz Improvisation.
Life & Musical Experiences.

Educator or clinician/masterclass topics:
Saxophone; Improvisation; student Q&A.

Ensembles comfortable performing with or conducting as a visiting artist:
Quartet; Big Band soloist. Will also work with film.

Available as a soloist or to work with a local resident band or rhythm section?
Yes.

Availability:
Flexible.

Contact information:
Ina Dittke
BPR
770 N.E. 69th St.
Suite 7C
Miami, FL 33138
Ph: 305/762-4309 cell: 305/409-2576 fax: 305/762-4308
Email: bprmusic@compuserve.com
Web: www.bprmusic.com

Biography

One of the surviving champions of Dizzy Gillespie's music, James Moody is an accomplished musician on the tenor and alto saxophones, as well as the flute, despite being born partially deaf. In addition to his instrumental prowess, Moody is an engaging entertainer, captivating audiences with his personal charm and wit.

Although born in Savannah, he was raised in Newark, New Jersey. His interest in jazz was sparked by a trumpet-playing father who gigged in the Tiny Bradshaw band, and he took up the alto sax, a gift from his uncle, at the age of 16. His first musical training came in the Air Force, and after leaving the service in 1946 he joined the Dizzy Gillespie big band, staying until 1948. Gillespie became his musical mentor. In 1949, he moved to Paris for three years, often playing with visiting American musicians, including the Tadd Dameron-Miles Davis band.

In Sweden he recorded his famous improvisation on "I'm in the Mood For Love" in 1949, playing on an alto saxophone instead of his usual tenor. His solo was later set to lyrics by Eddie Jefferson and recorded by King Pleasure, known as "Moody's Mood for Love," becoming a surprise hit in 1952. Throughout the rest of his career, Moody would be more known for the vocal version of the song based on his solo than for the instrumental version itself, and obliged requests for the song by singing his famous solo.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, he led his own bands, and worked alongside other saxophonists, notably Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt, with whom he co-led a three-tenor sax band. In 1963 he returned to the Dizzy Gillespie small group, where he largely remained until 1971. In 1975, he moved to Las Vegas and worked numerous hotel and casino shows with singers and comics, picking up the clarinet along the way. In 1979, he left Las Vegas and moved back to New York to lead his own quintet.

Then in 1989 he moved to San Diego, working as a consummate soloist and member of all-star touring units. In the 1990s, he teamed up again with his lifelong friend Dizzy Gillespie to tour Europe and the United States as a member of the United Nations Orchestra. He continues to tour worldwide and experiment with his music, sometimes including synthesizers and strings on his recordings. He is sought-after on college and university campuses for master classes, workshops, and lectures, and has received honorary doctoral degrees from the Florida Memorial College and the Berklee College of Music. In 1997, he played an acting role in the Clint Eastwood film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Mr. Moody was named an NEA Jazz Master in 1998.

Selected Discography
James Moody and His Swedish Crowns, Dragon, 1949
Last Train from Overbrook, GRP/Chess, 1958
Moody's Party, Telarc, 1995
Moody Plays Mancini, Warner Brothers, 1997
Homage, Savoy Jazz, 2003

Biography from NEA Jazz Masters (NEA, 2006). Copies can be ordered free of charge through our Publications section.

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