Bob Moses
b. 28 January 1948, New York, USA. Moses grew up surrounded by musicians like Charlie Mingus for whom his father was press agent. Largely self-taught, he started to play when he was 10 years old and also played vibes in local Latin bands in his teens. He appeared with Roland Kirk in the mid-60s and formed Free Spirits with Larry Coryell, one of the first jazz-rock bands. After a short stay with Dave Liebman's Open Sky he joined Gary Burton. In the early '70s he formed Compost with Harold Vick (tenor) and Jack DeJohnette and toured the UK with the Mike Gibbs Orchestra before returning to the groups of Gary Burton and Pat Metheny. At this stage he was also writing for large ensembles and formed his own label—Mozown Records—to release the results. The music was recorded by all-star line-ups of New York musicians and was accorded great critical acclaim. Moses makes personal use of a wide range of influences to create colourful, complex yet swinging music. In the '80s he played with the Steve Kuhn/ Sheila Jordan Band (1979-82), George GruntzBig Band and his own quintet. He is the author of the drum method DRUM WISDOM.