Moe changer

Morris "Moe" Wechsler (born October 15, 1920 † February 18, 2016 ) was an American barrel house and jazz pianist .

Life

Moe came from a Jewish family and worked with Ella Fitzgerald from the mid-1940s , with whom the first recordings were made, and with the Mills Blue Rhythm Band in 1947, and in the following decade with Bernie Mann, Leo Anthony, Billy Butterfield , Billy Byers and Benny Goodman , Andy Kirk , Hank D'Amico , Jack Teagarden , Bobby Byrne , Quincy Jones , Don Redman the Creed Taylor Orchestra and the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra . As a session musician (partly as a member of Ralph Burns' orchestra ) he accompanied the vocalists Chris Connor , Beverly Kenney , Maxine Sullivan , Varetta Dillard , LaVern Baker , Lee Wiley and Solomon Burke at record sessions. At the end of the 1950s, recordings were made under his own name for Roulette Records ( Barrelhouse and Honky Tonk Piano ), mostly Tin Pan Alley and ragtime numbers such as Maple Leaf Rag , Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider , I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now and Somebody Stole My Gal .

In the early 1960s he still recorded with Rex Stewart ( Just for Kicks ) and as a member of various New York studio orchestras (under the direction of Leroy Holmes, Don Costa, Urbie Green , Richard Maltby, Doc Severinsen , Hal Mooney and Enoch Light, among others ) ; he also played with Gene Krupa and Warren Covington . 1963 RCA released his album "Crazy Finger" - Moe and His Ragtimers: Old Songs Are the Good Songs Played on Honky Tonk Piano ; 1964 another piano duo album with Bernie Leighton as well as Milt Hinton (bass) and Osie Johnson (drums). He can be seen as accompanist for Dave Lambert in the documentary Audition at RCA (1964). In the field of jazz he was involved in 60 recording sessions between 1945 and 1965, most recently with Esther Phillips . As a studio musician , Wechsler u. a. also with Sylvia Copeland ( Soon It's Gonna Rain ), The Chordettes ( Mr. Sandman ), Claus Ogerman , Hugo Montenegro , Gene Pitney & Ginny Arnell ( Faithful Our Love , 1959) and Frank Sinatra ( Watertown ).

Web links

• Moe Wechsler at Discogs (English)
• Steve Karmen: Memories of Moe Wechsler

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Morris Wechsler - Obituary. Obituary in the Palm Beach Post , Nov. 24-25. February 2016 (accessed May 24, 2016).
2. ^ The Music of Multicultural America: Performance, Identity, and Community in the United States , edited by Kip Lornell, Anne K. Rasmussen. 2016, p. 101
3. ↑ Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed February 24, 2016)