Dick Conte of KCSM (San Mateo) has reported the death of Bill Moody, a JJA member, jazz drummer, radio show host and author, on January 12, 2018. Bill was 76, and died at his home in Vallejo, California.
Writes Conte, with whom Moody performed in recent year, “Bill spent many years in Europe, Las Vegas and the S.F. Bay Area both playing and teaching creative writing. He authored books on jazz as well as several jazz pianist/detective crime novels with Evan Horne as the lead character.”
Titles of his seven Horne mysteries include Solo Hand, Death of a Tenor Man about the murder of Wardell Gray, Looking for Chet Baker in which Horne researches facts of Baker’s unsolved demise, Sound of the Trumpet concerning the discovery of unknown tapes of Clifford Brown, and Bird Lives! featuring killings of smooth jazz players. Moody also wrote two spy novels and a non-fiction book The Jazz Exiles based on his years in Europe during the early ’60s.
Conte continued (in a note to the Yahoo Jazz-Research group), “Bill toured with Maynard Ferguson, Earl Hines, Lou Rawls, Junior Mance and many others. Since the late 90’s, Bill has been performing in the Bay Area with [me], Dick Fregulia, and with Terry Henry every Sunday at the Valona Deli in Crockett, where there will be a musical tribute on Sunday 2/11 at 5 pm.” Moody grew up in Santa Monica, studied at Berklee, spent 20 years residing in Las Vegas, taught at University of Nevada and Sonoma State University. The JJA adds its condolences to his friends and family.
I had the pleasure of playing (tenor saxophone) with Bill Moody in pianist Dick Conte's quartet for the past 17 years (along with bassist Steve Webber). Bill was a great guy, with a wry sense of humor. Although on the surface he often presented a crusty exterior, underneath lurked a sensitive and kind soul. His Evan Horne mystery novels were always fun to read, and I highly recommend them to anyone who likes good mystery writing, with the added plus of intersecting with the jazz world. We have played together every June around Dick's birthday at the Jazz School in Berkeley, CA for the past 15 or so years. This June's performance will be our first concert without Bill in the band. He will be sorely missed.
I love Bill Moody's books. very hard to find but worth the look. Rest in Peace dear man. You gave me so much pleasure.