Saxophone and flute great James Moody became an international jazz star in 1949. He continued to record and tour around the world until shortly before his death in 2010, in San Diego, from pancreatic cancer at the age of 85.
Best known for his landmark song, “Moody’s Mood For Love,” and for his musical ebullience, he continues to be held in very high esteem. Here is what some present and past artists said about him in new and previous San Diego Union-Tribune interviews.
“I heard `Moody’s Mood for Love’ on the radio almost every night as a little kid. Even though it was a hit in 1949, I knew it like it was a current single. I was nervous and excited to record it, but I didn’t need a lyric sheet because I’d heard it all my life. I hope that by recording my version (which features a solo by Moody), kids will get to hear how wonderful he is.” — Queen Latifah
“The earth deserves him. Heaven can wait, because he is paradise” — Trumpeter and bebop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie
“Moody’s sense of joy, combined with his extraordinary talent, can turn any person into a jazz fan. He was brilliant as a performer and as a human being. Like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie, Moody was a great artist and a great entertainer. He was someone whose art was at the highest level, but who also always engaged their listeners and built a new audience for the music.” — TD James Moody Jazz Festival producer John Schreiber
“He’s about the music — all the time. I’ve worked with Moody a lot and he’s just impeccable, his musicianship, his soul, his humor. He’s a titan of our music and I love him.” — Trumpeter and Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz composer Wynton Marsalis
“Moody was always seeking ways to better himself as a player. Even in his later years, he was still practicing hard. I don’t think he knew any other way to be, and it was inspiring to all of us who worked with him. I recall a New York city engagement with him, merely weeks after he had gone through major heart surgery. The band didn’t know if he was strong enough yet to make the gig, but he showed up eager to play. The opening tune of the set was Bronislaw Kaper’s ‘Invitation.’ As he swung into what may have been his 20th chorus, Todd (Coolman), Adam (Nussbaum) and I looked at each other in astonishment. Moody was on fire, and seized the moment as if to declare: ‘I’m back!’ — Pianist Renee Rosnes
“Moody is a giant, no doubt about it, and he practices all the time. Sometimes he calls me up and practices in my ear, over the phone. He says: `Hey, I want you to hear this!’ Then he starts playing things forward and backward. He’s amazing.” — Solo artist and former Miles Davis saxophonist Bennie Maupin
“He’s still a great player who’s developing new things, new approaches. It’s amazing. And he’s just a great person to be around because you never feel slighted. He never tries to steal the limelight; he’s not into being competitive.” — Keyboardist and jazz educator Herbie Hancock
“I was lucky Moody found me worthy of playing with him (in the late 1980s and early 1990s) because he was so forward-looking. At a time when we weren’t talking about things like gender equity and justice, like we are now, he was talking about those things. He felt this music should be for everyone. And if he could hire a woman and encourage us to think more about equality on the bandstand, he did. I think he thought about musicians on stage representing the kind of life and world he wanted to see.” — Drummer and Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice Founder/Artistic Director Terri Lyne Carrington
“It didn’t matter to him what your nationality, race or ethnicity was. I came from Italy and he welcomed me, mentored me, and was so generous. He and Linda became my American family. He was so warm, kind and intelligent. He was a very serious musician who also had this childlike joy. There has never been anyone like him, and never will be. I miss him every day.” — Singer Roberta Gambarini
“That song, `Moody’s Mood for Love,’ is a national anthem.” — Bill Cosby
“I was still in Cuba when I first heard ‘Moody’s Mood For Love’ on Willis Conover’s ‘Jazz Hour’ radio show on the Voice of America. For people living in Cuba, Poland and the other side of the world, he was a very special person. He was so charismatic and he had a beautiful smile. I will always him dearly as a friend and an invaluable collaborator.” — Saxophonist and clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera
“You either have it or you don’t, and he does. Moody is always looking forward. He’s always interested in doing something else.” — Keyboardist and Weather Report band co-founder Joe Zawinul
“To this day, I just hear Moody’s name and it warms me up. I how he called me up when I was having a really rough time in New York, and he said: `I have a gig in Philadelphia, and they have a 10-musician minimum. Would you mind going down with us and just sitting on the stage, so that we’ll have 10 people?’ And he paid me. You never forget stuff like that as long as you live.” — Quincy Jones
“Moody was a member of the Baha’i faith and he and his lovely wife, Linda, presided over the wedding of my wife, Laurelyn, and I in Berkeley. The first night I met him was in 1968, in San Francisco at the Jazz Workshop, where I sat in with him and Dizzy (Gillespie). I was 15, and Moody said to me: ‘Whenever you learn how to play something new, learn how to play it backwards.’ I’m still working on that, 56 years later! — Trumpeter, big-band leader and jazz educator Jon Faddis
“He’s always been one of my very favorite artists. He’s a timeless player.” — Keyboardist Bob James
“I was thrilled when Lindy Moody approached me a few months ago with the idea of hosting a James Moody 100th birthday tribute concert here in San Diego. Moody’s playing was masterful, ebullient, playful, full of soul… A very clear memory I have, which defines his beautiful spirit, was a chance encounter I witnessed at an International Association for Jazz Education convention. Two very young music students approached him with obvious trepidation about meeting one of their idols. I was so moved by the way Moody gave them his complete focus and attention, and spoke with them at length, sharing his deep experience, expertise, and wisdom. He was so generous, both with his music and with ing along the legacy of the art form he helped to define.” — San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival co-founder Daniel Atkinson
