Biography
Somewhat of a mystery figure in jazz history, J.C. Moses was a very versatile (and for a time greatly in-demand) drummer who played in settings ranging from mainstream to free jazz. Moses first gained the attention of the jazz world in the early 1960s, when he recorded with Clifford Jordan, Kenny Dorham and quite notably Eric Dolphy. As a member of the New York Contemporary Five — a group that included Archie Shepp, John Tchicai and Don Cherry — Moses toured Scandinavia in 1963 and recorded in Denmark. Back in New York the following year, Moses was with the New York Art Quartet (a group that matched Tchicai and Roswell Rudd), was with an early version of Charles Lloyd’s Quartet and spent two years (1965-67) with Rahsaan Roland Kirk. During this period, Moses also worked with Archie Shepp, Andrew Hill and Sam Rivers. In 1969 Moses played regularly in Copenhagen as the house drummer at the Montmartre Club, working with such players as Ben Webster and Dexter Gordon. Erratic health forced him to cut back on his activities in the early 1970s and he returned to Pittsburgh, where he occasionally played with Nathan Davis and Eric Kloss before his premature death. Moses never led his own record date. ~ Scott Yanow