Danny Moss
| Danny Moss | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Dennis Moss |
| Born |
16 August 1927 Redhill, Surrey, England, UK |
| Died | 28 May 2008 (aged 80) Perth, Western Australia |
| Genres | Jazz, hard bop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, bandleader |
| Instruments | Tenor saxophone, clarinet |
| Years active | 1943–2008 |
| Labels | EMI Columbia, CBS, Trunk, Black Lion, Nagel-Heyer, Progressive, Macjazz, Nifnuf |
| Associated acts | Jeanie Lambe Pizza Express All-Stars |
Dennis Moss MBE (16 August 1927 – 28 May 2008) was a British jazz tenor saxophonist. He was known for playing with most of the high-profile figures of British jazz, including Vic Lewis, Ted Heath, Johnny Dankworth, Alex Welsh, and Humphrey Lyttelton.
The son of a toolmaker, Moss was born in Redhill, Surrey in 1927. At the age of thirteen, he saw a jazz band appear briefly in a Bowery Boys film on a family cinema visit, and was so inspired by the clarinet playing that he swapped his most valued possession, his ice skates, for a second-hand instrument of his own. Self-taught on both this and the tenor saxophone, which he took up at school, he started playing professionally after leaving at the age of sixteen.
A spell of National Service at the age of eighteen saw Moss performing for three years in a Royal Air Force regional band. After leaving the forces he joined the Vic Lewis Orchestra, and in the next few years moved around various bands, especially ones with the potential for a soloist. In 1952, he joined Ted Heath's band, a well-paid role which he described as "the prestige job of all time". Soon, however, Moss found the group's focus on novelty numbers and faithful musical reproductions, including that of solos, to be limiting to his skills as an improviser, and he left after three years.
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