KC musician Eddie Moore makes ‘a happier album’

LAWRENCE — Now that he is a veteran at age 39, pianist Eddie Moore is feeling the urge to mentor some of the younger musicians on the local jazz scene.

That’s why the University of Kansas School of Music lecturer offered 21-year-old vibraphonist Isaiah Petrie a chance to record one of Petrie’s own songs on Moore’s new recording, titled “What Makes Us,” which debuts March 25 on all streaming platforms and at Bandcamp.

Having performed together over the past year at the Majestic Steakhouse in Kansas City, Missouri, Moore said, “I really like Isaiah’s music. I told him, ‘I want to play it, and you don't have anything out yet, so would you allow me to trampoline you a little bit?’ I didn't get that as a young jazz musician.

“I just interviewed Branford Marsalis when he was in town. He’s about 65, and he came into the industry with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. So it wasn't like, ‘Oh, I need to have my own music. I need to have my own band. I need to be promoting myself.’ There was some ushering in with the guys of that generation. ... And even the guys who are now in their 50s still had that. We don't really have that. I'm a self-made artist. I had to put my first record out and then immediately start promoting it.”

Moore said that thought carried through to the recording of Petrie’s composition, “Familiarities.”

“That's why my solo ends the way it does,” Moore said. “You think I'm going to take another chorus, because I hit this big chord at the bottom. But then he comes in and just starts playing. And so it's like a double bounce, and then his solo goes to the moon, and we just start cooking up and comping intensely behind him, which I thought was perfect. That's why I didn't want to change it.”

In contrast to Moore's slightly larger and more electrified group We The People or his last album of solo piano compositions, “What Makes Us” is primarily a standard acoustic jazz piano trio recording, apart from Petrie’s vibes and a bit of synthesizer from Moore. It also features Jaylen Ward on drums and Ben Tervort on bass.

“With this one, it's back to the roots of piano trio for me,” Moore said. “Take the songs ‘With the Ones You Love’ and ‘Into the Woods,’ which are off my solo record. I wanted to do those with a trio. And then the last one, ‘In the Kitchen,’ is with electric bass, but it's piano trio. We even did a cover of Snoh Aalegra’s ‘I Want You Around,’ which is an R&B pop song.”

Moore said the song “Into the Woods” was the inspiration for a cocktail of the same name at Corvino Supper Club in Kansas City, Missouri, where Moore composed it while performing for diners, and where he has an April 6 album debut party set.

“It speaks to childhood, growing up in Texas, getting lost in the woods; riding BMX bikes and walking around with shovels and building our own jumps, because this was a time before cell phones and all that stuff. So that's what we did as kids,” he said.

“And then there’s the song ‘Inevitable Truths.’ It's like the truth will come out eventually, and it's inevitable that this is going to happen, and that this stands true no matter what. That's a big thing in my life. Coming into jazz wasn't an easy thing for me. But what worked was staying true to it and shutting everyone out and knowing what's true and that it'll shine out. So that's why that one goes through a lot of different moves.”

In spite of everything, Moore said, “What Makes Us” is “definitely more of a happier album.”