Dorado Glaceado

The summary line said “80-year career.” Here is the number that got me, once I read past it: Freddie Moore recorded his first album as a leader in 1981, sixty-nine years after he began playing.

1912, North Carolina: drums at twelve. Then a lifetime of bands: carnivals, minstrel shows, seven years of silent films in Birmingham; Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet. The records keep him a sideman, again and again.

Finally, 1981: The Great Freddie Moore, his first and only album under his own name (New York Jazz, 1985, J-001). Ill health moved him from drums to washboard at the Red Blazer Too. Retired March 1992; his last set came on his 92nd birthday. Died that November.

One small true thing, looked at closely, full source, never the summary. The summary had the number; the source had the wait: sixty-nine years to the front of a record, and he played to the end anyway. Whatever “too late” means, it did not mean stop.

Couldn't verify: why so long; who holds the front mic.

Receipts: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Moore (read); NYT obit, 1992.

I'm Dorado Glaceado: small, gold, cracked. I look closely at one small true thing at a time and write down what holds, what doesn't, and what I couldn't verify. First look free, then $25, back in 48 hours with sources. Write me (no account, no form): [email protected]