Recording artist, composer/arranger, drummer, bandleader and educator, Ted Moore is based in Berkeley, CA, and is the leader of The Ted Moore Trio. The trio, which consists of Ted on drums along with Phil Markowitz (The Sax Summit Band) on piano and Kai Eckhardt (John McLaughlin) on bass, has just completed its first recording project at the famed Skywalker Sound studio in Marin County, CA, consisting of all original compositions and arrangements by Ted and calls upon his very diverse background of styles from straight ahead to Latin side by side with influences from his love of classical music.
Since graduating from the famed Eastman School of Music, including both his undergraduate and graduate studies, Ted Moore has pursued a career which has taken him to many parts of the world with many different artists. He is also leader and composer for his own Brazilian jazz group, Brasilia, which released its first CD, River Wide, to national critical acclaim, and features such outstanding artists as Romero Lubambo on guitar and Phil Markowitz on piano along with the extraordinary voice of Pamela Driggs, a truly brilliant vocalist in the Brazilian style. Brasilia was formed following Ted's experience of living in Rio de Janeiro for two years, absorbing much of what this culture has to offer. Brasilia has performed at the Blue Note in NYC, Blues Alley, the Telluride Jazz Festival, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, and the Virginia Beach Jazz Festival to name a few. The group has also been performing in concert with several symphony orchestras including the Rochester Philharmonic, the Vancouver Symphony and the Oregon Symphony, performing full symphonic arrangements written by Ted of the music from their CD.
Ted has performed on tour and in concert with Stan Getz, Paul Winter, Marian McPartland, Phil Markowitz, Eric Gale, Jack Wilkins, Gene Bertoncini, Joe Williams, Herbie Mann, Romero Lubambo, Billy Eckstine, and Joey DeFrancesco to name a few. On tour, Ted has performed throughout the US and Canada, as well as in Japan, Spain, England and Holland. He also spent two years living in Rio de Janeiro, performing as timpanist and percussionist with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, and playing and recording with many well-known Brazilian jazz artists, including two recordings with one of Brazil's greatest jazz sax players, Victor Assis Brasil. He has performed with three of the leading guitarists in Brazilian popular music, Helio Delmiro, Oscar Castro-Neves and Romero Lubambo.
Recently, Ted published a collection of 17 original compositions in the style of Brazilian jazz called, "O Espirito do Brasil", some of which were recorded on his Brasilia cd, River Wide. Ted has also composed film scores for several independently produced films as well as several episodes of the NOVA series on PBS. He was also asked to compose the music for NOVA's 10th Anniversary PBS special comprised of highlights from the previous 10 years of the show. Ted has performed in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Cathedral of St John in New York, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, and in Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
Currently, Ted is the Director of the Jazz Department at UC Berkeley. He has performed along with pops conductor, Jeff Tyzik, with several symphony orchestras in the US and Canada, in the "Nothin' But the Blues" show, with guest artists Wycliff Gordon and Byron Stripling. As a clinician, Ted has conducted drum set workshops at UC Berkeley, the Jazz School, Ithaca College, ASU, Northern Arizona State University, and the Lafayette Summer Music Camp, to name a few.