“Really like this CD, very nice songs, great players, great arrangements.. and a very good recording..what else do you need..” -John Keith
“Robert Moore is a quadruple threat jazzman – vocalist, trumpeter, harmonica man, and songwriter – and this second album, Serve You, Ma’am?, gives ample evidence of his power in each area. If the finger poppin’ opener “Two Little Words” sounds like something Bob Dorough or Dave Frishberg might have written, then you’ll understand why the great Mark Murphy invites Moore to share the stage with him and why Nancy King performs his songs.
The disc shows Moore’s wide-ranging tastes and fresh takes on familiar genres. Who else has blown harp on “Sweet Sue, Just You”? Don’t miss the fleet-fingered solo by ace guitarist Mark Kimbrell on this tune. Neither should you fail to note the presence of longtime Count Basie bassist Cleve Eaton on this and several other cuts, including the wonderful bebop medley “Scrapple from the Apple / Honeysuckle Rose”.
Three of the original songs were cut in New Orleans with Delfeayo Marsalis (trombone), Victor Goines (tenor/alto saxes, longtime member of Wynton Marsalis’ ensemble), Ed Peterson (tenor), Victor Atkins (piano, lately of Elvin Jones, Mark Whitfield, Nnenna Freelon et al), and Terrance Blanchard’s rhythm section of David Pulphous (bass), and Troy Davis (drums). Included in this group is a gorgeous, evocative ballad “Magnolia”, which sounds likely to become an instant standard.
Elsewhere, Moore gets into early swing (Django’s “Swing 42”), a torchy vocal ballad with a Milesian muted solo on trumpet (“Don’t Go to Strangers”), Chicago blues (“I Got News for You”), an Otis Redding inspired soul tune (“Beat Ya To It”), and a wonderful old blues based ballad that would do Charles Brown proud (“Ain’t No Use”).
Most of the album was cut in Moore’s adopted hometown of Birmingham with the cream of local players. And if Birmingham surprises you as a town for Jazz, that’s only because you haven’t heard Robert Moore. Yet.”
Bart Grooms, Jazz Writer for Black and White Magazine
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