Big Chief Russell Moore was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 trombonist.

Moore was a Pima

Pima

The Pima are a group of American Indians living in an area consisting of what is now central and southern Arizona. The long name, "Akimel O'odham", means "river people". They are closely related to the Tohono O'odham and the Hia C-ed O'odham...

 American Indian

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

, and lived in Blue Island, Illinois

Blue Island, Illinois

Blue Island is a city in Cook County, Illinois. The population was 22,556 at the 2010 census. Blue Island was established in the 1830s as a way station for settlers traveling on the Vincennes Trace, and the settlement prospered because it was conveniently situated a day's journey outside of Chicago...

 from age twelve, where he studied trumpet, piano, drums, french horn, and trombone. He moved to Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 in the early 1930s, where he worked freelance with Lionel Hampton

Lionel Hampton

Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...

 (1935), Eddie Barefield

Eddie Barefield

Eddie Barefield was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist and arranger most noteworthy for his work with Bennie Moten, Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman, Coleman Hawkins, Sammy Price, Bernie Young, and Ben Webster...

, and others. After moving to New Orleans in 1939, he worked with Oscar Celestin, Kid Rena

Kid Rena

Henry "Kid" Rena was an American jazz trumpeter who was an early star of the New Orleans jazz scene....

, A.J. Piron, Paul Barbarin

Paul Barbarin

Adolphe Paul Barbarin was a New Orleans jazz drummer, usually regarded as one of the very best of the pre-Big Band era jazz drummers...

, Ernie Fields

Ernie Fields

Ernie Fields was an African American trombonist, pianist, arranger and bandleader. He first became known for leading the Royal Entertainers, which were based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and toured along a circuit stretching from Kansas City, Kansas, to Dallas, Texas.-Early life and career:Fields was born...

, Harlan Leonard

Harlan Leonard

Harlan Leonard was an American jazz bandleader and clarinetist from Kansas City, Missouri.A professional musician from the age of 17, he joined Benny Moten's orchestra in 1923, where he led the reed section until 1931. In 1931 he and Thamon Hayes formed the Kansas City Skyrockets, which included...

, and Noble Sissle

Noble Sissle

Noble Sissle was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright.-Early life:...

.

He played with Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

's last big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

 in 1944-47, and worked freelance on the Dixieland jazz

Dixieland Jazz

Dixieland Jazz was a Canadian music television series which aired on CBC Television in 1954.-Premise:The series host was Trump Davidson, a cornet player. He also hosted a radio music series on CBC's Trans-Canada Network.-Scheduling:...

 circuit thereafter. In the 1950s he played with Ruby Braff

Ruby Braff

Reuben "Ruby" Braff was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. Jack Teagarden was once asked about him on the Gary Moore TV show and described Ruby as "The Ivy League Louis Armstrong."Braff was born in Boston...

, Pee Wee Russell

Pee Wee Russell

Charles Ellsworth Russell, much better known by his nickname Pee Wee Russell, was a jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but eventually focused solely on clarinet....

, Eddie Condon

Eddie Condon

Albert Edwin Condon , better known as Eddie Condon, was a jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in the so-called "Chicago school" of early Dixieland, he also played piano and sang on occasion....

, Wild Bill Davison

Wild Bill Davison

Wild' Bill Davison was a fiery jazz cornet player who emerged in the 1920s, but did not achieve recognition until the 1940s...

, Jimmy McPartland

Jimmy McPartland

James Dugald McPartland , better known as Jimmy McPartland, was an American cornetist and one of the originators of Chicago Jazz...

, Tony Parenti

Tony Parenti

Tony Parenti was an American jazz clarinettist and saxophonist born in New Orleans, perhaps best-known for his decades of work in New York City.-Biography:...

, Mezz Mezzrow

Mezz Mezzrow

Milton Mesirow, better known as Mezz Mezzrow was an American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist from Chicago, Illinois. Mezzrow is well known for organizing and financing historic recording sessions with Tommy Ladnier and Sidney Bechet. Mezzrow also recorded a number of times with Bechet and...

, Sidney Bechet

Sidney Bechet

Sidney Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.He was one of the first important soloists in jazz , and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist...

, and Buck Clayton

Buck Clayton

Buck Clayton was an American jazz trumpet player who was a leading member of Count Basie’s "Old Testament" orchestra and a leader of mainstream-oriented jam session recordings in the 1950s. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong...

. He returned to play in the Louis Armstrong All-Stars in 1964-65, but fell ill and had to leave the group. After recovering he led a Dixieland

Dixieland

Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...

 group of his own, which toured Canada repeatedly.

Moore had been working with pianist Eddie Wilcox

Eddie Wilcox

Eddie Wilcox was an American jazz pianist and arranger.-Biography:Born in Method, North Carolina, Wilcox studied at Fisk University, where he met Jimmie Lunceford. He played with Lunceford in college bands and then professionally in the mid-1920s...

 shortly before Wilcox died in 1968. Moore played with Cozy Cole

Cozy Cole

Cozy Cole was an American jazz drummer who scored a #1 Cashbox magazine hit with the record "Topsy Part 2". "Topsy" peaked at number three on Billboard Hot 100, and at number one on the R&B chart. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The track peaked at #29 in the UK...

 in 1977 and in 1981.

He recorded as a leader in 1953 for Vogue

Vogue Records

Vogue Records was a short-lived United States based record label of the 1940s, noted for the artwork embedded in the records themselves. Founded in 1946 as part of Sav-Way Industries of Detroit, Michigan, the discs were initially a hit, because of the novelty of the colorful artwork, and the...

 and Trutone, and in 1973 for Jazz Art.