Aaron Moore

Chicago-based blues pianist, singer and songwriter Aaron Moore was locally famous, but still rather obscure on the national blues scene. Moore spent most of the last 40 years in Chicago, backing up a long list of musicians including Little Walter Jacobs, Lonnie Brooks, Hound Dog Taylor, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and B.B. King. In the last decade of his life, he played a lot with Chicago bandleader/harmonica player Rob Stone. Born and raised 28 miles from Greenwood, Mississippi, on a plantation near Phillip, Tallahatchie County, Aaron Moore was encouraged in his piano playing by his mother, who was a music teacher and church piano player. Early on, he was influenced by Curtis Jones, and later by Memphis Slim. Later on, after moving to Chicago, he learned from boogie-woogie paragon Roosevelt Sykes, and the two would often team up in blues clubs around Chicago. Moore started playing the piano when he was five or six years old. His mother, a piano teacher, taught her son to play. His mom played “sacred music”. But Moore liked what he heard on the streets of Mississippi – “I used to walk down the streets…Sonny Boy Williams…I used to hear him.” When Moore heard something he liked, he’d go home and try to play it. But not when his mom was home - Moore couldn’t play the blues in the house. The first blues song that Moore remembers listening to? It was by Leroy Carr of Indianapolis –who taught himself how to play the piano. Moore learned to play the blues by ear, “There’s no sheet music in the blues. Most people write their own”. While still attending Johnson High School in Greenwood, Moore played the blues live on the air at a local radio station. “WGRM radio on Johnson Street. They could hear it all the way to Memphis. They asked me, could I play the way…can you play like this? And I did.” He’d play for about thirty minutes, whatever they asked him to play. “People would hear it. Would hear it on the radio. It would go all over the place.” After completing high school, Moore moved to Chicago in search of a higher paying job. It was in Chicago that he met another piano player - Roosevelt Sykes. Sykes, born in Helena, Arkansas in 1906, blended St. Louis ragtime with the rural blues – creating his own style. Moore teamed up and learned from Sykes, dubbed “the boogie-woogie paragon”. The two often played in clubs around Chicago. In the 1940s and 1950 there were as many piano players as guitar players. “The blues was raving!” Moore recounts, “Muddy Waters, Aaron Moore James, Count Basie, Roosevelt Sykes. People just loved the blues – they’d hear the music coming from the clubs and just go in.” He would listen to Little Water on the harmonica.“The sound would stay with me – I’d go home and play it on the piano.” Aaron united in marriage with Katie Moore, a union that has lasted for over 20 years. He was a member of the Masons. Fast forward to 1985, Moore retired after working for the City of Chicago for 36 years and playing the blues on a freelance basis. While freelancing before and after retiring, Moore played Chicago clubs with a long line of musicians including – Little Walter, Lonnie Brooks, Hound Dog Taylor, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and his old Mississippi friends - BB King and Honeyboy Edwards. In the early 1990s, Moore moved to Milwaukee for about six years. He often played with Steve Nitro. In 1997 he returned to Chicago. With more time to devote to his music, Moore recorded his debut CD, Hello World, in 1996 for Delmark Records. He wrote all original songs for the CD and was accompanied by James Wheeler on guitar, Willie Black on bass and Robert “Huckleberry Hound” Wright on drums. His second Delmark CD, Boot ‘Em Up was released in 1999. He was accompanied again by James Wheeler on guitar, Bob Stroger on bass and Willie “Big Eye” Smith on drums. Moore again wrote all original songs for Boot “Em Up. On both CDs Moore provided the vocals and played piano. He also recorded Home Brew on Delmark with Brewer Phillips, formerly of Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers. Moore also played on Earwig Music recordings by Rob Stone - Back Around Here, and Tim Woods - The Blues Sessions, and on the Honeybee Entertainment label CD - Cleveland Fats - The Way Things Go. Major festivals which Aaron Moore played included The Chicago Blues Festival, Toledo Blues Festival, Columbus Traditional Blues Festival and the Koh Samui Music Festival in Thailand. He also played in Chicago at Rosa’s Lounge, B.L.U.E.S, Buddy Guy’s Legends and Hothouse among others. Aaron passed away on November 27, 2013 in Rush Presbyterian St. Lukes Hospital after a prolonged illness. He was preceded in death by her sons, Gerald and Edgar, Lacy. Aaron leaves to cherish his memories, his wife, Katie; his children, Teresea, Octavia, Anteria, Nelisa, Laurie, Delrita, Aaron Jr. and Darren; stepdaughters, Helen, Paulette, Mae, Linda, Hermetta, Lou, Carolyn; stepsons, Yakee, Anthony, Aaron and Ceasar; his sister, Adell Griggs; 23 grandchildren; and a host of great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, other relatives, friends and a fans.

Tributes

Aaron Moore

February 11, 1918 - November 27, 2013