Oscar Moore was born in Austin, Texas in 1916 and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. His father was a blacksmith but also led a brass band. Oscar was shown the rudiments of guitar playing by a Mexican named Carl Gomez but was otherwise self taught.
In 1934 Oscar joined his guitarist brother Johnny's quartet. By 1937 Oscar had moved to Los Angeles where he had become a session musician. His big break came when he joined the Nat King Cole trio. Here Oscar's subtle approach to jazz guitar received nationwide exposure as the Cole trio became one of the most popular jazz combos in history. Oscar developed tremendous technique and a very advanced sense of harmony which complemented Cole's.
By 1947 Oscar was thought to have become the highest paid sideman in the business. His salary was reported as being over $30,000 although he was always very reluctant to discuss it having a permanent fear of the tax authorities. Even so, when Nat King Cole started to soften the music up in the direction of pop, for example by adding string sections, Oscar was not prepared to compromise his artistry and quit the trio.
Oscar then rejoined his brother Johnny's group "The Three Blazers" and worked around Los Angeles. Although jazz oriented the Blazers were primarily a Rhythm and Blues outfit and perhaps ironically the group's output was targetted at an even more "popular" market than that which King Cole had been seeking to address.
Oscar teamed up with his pianist friend Carl Perkins and ex King Cole bassist Joe Comfort and they cut a few pure jazz quartet tracks in 1953 for Norgran. In 1954 Oscar continued recording in a quartet/quintet format again with Perkins and Comfort. On these records the interplay between the pianist and guitarist is striking. Both players would use extended chord voicings but always in perfect harmony with each other. Oscar's very light use of amplification allowed the "woody" nature of his guitar to shine through at all times, and the two LPs which were issued on the Skylark and Tampa labels were perhaps the recorded highlights of his career.
In 1957 Oscar recorded again with Carl Perkins with Inez Jones as vocalist. After this he went into semi-retirement. However in 1965, following the death of Nat King Cole, he was persuaded back into the studios to make a tribute LP with Gerald Wiggins and Joe Comfort. This album turned out to be Oscar's swansong as he did not record again.
Apart from music Oscar's only other passion in life was deep-sea fishing, and in his later years he made high quality fishing lures for professional anglers. He died in 1981.
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