Transcription Mystery Disc #69

Refreshingly, this transcription Disc is both labeled and dated on both the A and B sides. The disc spins at 78 rpm and starts at the outer edge. Side A is labeled "swing" and side B has two tracks "I got rhythm" and "Nightingale." Side b as you can see above also has the word IDAHO written over the word Broadway on the Recordisc. It looks different than the rest of the text and my be unrelated.

From the musicianship it's quite clear this was a commercial act. But I cannot identify the "Moore Trio." The Dudley Moore Trio didn't exist until the 1960s. There was a Gerry Moore Trio in the 1950s but not before1952. Side A clearly gives the data 8/1/1942. It's a jazz trio with bass, guitar and piano and that's all I knew after finishing the dub.
SIDE A:

SIDE B:

The end of Side B has the answer. You can hear a radio announcer cut in. It fades out quickly but after a couple listens, I can hear him say "Billy Moore Trio." They were a jazz trio active around New York and Philadelphia in the 1940s. they also toured playing in Omaha, Chicago, Cleveland and even Hollywood. I easily found radio schedules showing them on WJZ-AM in February of 1942. The man shouting in the recording could be pianist Ellis Lane Larkins. But his entry into the band is not dated for certain. It might be Billy Moore on Guitar and Buddy Moore on Piano and an unnamed man on bass. In October 1943 Billboard Magazine called them a "colored group." To me it just sounds like hot jazz.

An article in the Baltimore City paper filled in the blanks a bit:

"He joined guitarist Billy Moore's trio, which played at the Café Society Uptown on East 58th Street, and took over the band when Moore became ill. The other band at the club was led by pianist Teddy Wilson, famed for his work with the Benny Goodman Quartet. He and Larkins alternated playing for dancers between the floor shows."