Jazz musician Diane Moser (D-Mo) had a legendary laugh that was quick launching; first with a hearty exhale, scratchy and crackly like a well-loved 78 rpm record, followed in short order by a fall-off-your-seat guffaw that would segue, head tilted back, shoulder jiggling, to an ascent in pitch before landing on a verbal thumbs-up, kudos to the comedy’s source. “Ha-haaaaa, that’s so hilarious”, I can still hear her saying.  

While fighting cancer for a dozen years, she prevailed, constantly creating and exploring new music. I was convinced that her extraordinary gift of laughter, and her desire to spread it, was the key to her longevity, and it would keep her going far beyond her 63rd year. We lost her in December of 2020. She would have turned 65 a few days ago.

Diane Moser’s Composers Big Band (CBB) had their first performance in 1997 upstairs at Tierney’s Tavern in my hometown Montclair, New Jersey. Starting in 2006 the CBB was the monthly Wednesday night band at Trumpets Jazz Club, also in Montclair (OK, you’re thinking “Wednesday nights?”- yup, and rehearsals on Tuesday; that’s the only time when you can wrangle a bunch of very busy professional jazz artists that are in it for Art and not for the money). Their last performance was on February 4, 2020 at the Baha’i Center of NYC, just before everything shut down for the covid pandemic.

I followed the band almost from the beginning, and was there for that last performance; I kick myself that I didn’t record it … that gig and many others.  There were 17 performers, at least 8 of whom wrote for the band. She brought in guest composers and performers, and everyone was invested in exploring and developing new works for big band.

D-Mo’s take on her Composers Big Band (CBB) from a 2009 interview (made during her initial battle with cancer), ”Having a big band is a lot like having a community, a really big extended family, where we’ve been together for twelve years now, and we’ve all seen each other through a lot of tough times, a lot of happy times. But you really get to know people through their music. I enjoy playing new music. I enjoy working with composers. I enjoy having guest composers, and finding out what makes them tick, and how to bring their music to life and how to explain all of that to the band. And the whole process – the whole creative process of that – really interests me.”

From a 2009 interview with resident composer trombone player Ben Williams, “One of my favorite Diane stories, we’d talk about possibilities and ideas. This is in the beginning, when I first got to know her. She had this idea, it never came to fruition but that doesn’t matter, that the big band would play for ice skaters, at the skating rink, and we just riffed on it: this guy in the band can wear a tutu, and she can drive the Zamboni. Actually, talking about it as a creative endeavor. How cool would this be to have a live modern big band playing for skaters. It didn’t happen but that’s the kind of thing we’d do, and possibilities like that.”

From a 2009 interview with composer trumpet player Rob Henke: “It’s not uncommon at all to come across artists and musicians who have the weight of the world on their shoulders and can come up with hundreds of reasons why this won’t work, why that won’t work. ‘I’d love to play this kind of gig but that’ll never happen; this concert will never happen; no one wants to hear this.’ It’s a very common attitude. Diane, for all the time I’ve known her, is the opposite of that. She’s a tornado of energy who says ‘wouldn’t it be great if we staged some sort of strange music.’ And somehow, she manages to do it.”

To lose a friend like Diane Moser has been a huge loss for everyone that knew her. I don’t exaggerate when I say I think about her every day and what she contributed to the jazz community and to my life. So much left to do, and so many students that could have benefited from her gifts.  Also, sad that her old dianemosermusic.com website, generously and beautifully created by Diane’s CBB resident bass player Andy Eulau is no longer hers. The domain expired, apparently, and someone else who’s not a musician, bought it.  A new website might be in the making in the form of a tribute to DMo. I’ll make the appropriate edit and spread the word when that happens.

In lieu of a website (you can Google “Diane Moser music” for numerous articles, videos and places like Apple Music to hear some of her gems), I invite you to watch a short film derived from those interviews and performances from over a decade ago - “DMo CBB, A Sonic Party”.  Another more recent collaboration, and still a work in progress on my end, is a video created to accompany a beautiful piece she recorded with her trio (D-Mo-piano, Anton Denner-flute and Ken Filiano-bass): improvisations while listening to field recordings Diane made in bird water habitats in New Jersey - “Come Walk and Listen”. The music is mesmerizing.

A giant contribution for me some years ago was DMo’s composing of the music for the soundtrack of a short documentary film “Breaking Boundaries: The Art of Alex Masket” about a brilliant artist who happens to be severely autistic. It was performed by her quintet (D-Mo-piano, Andy Eulau-bass, Scott Neumann-drums, Ben Williams-trombone, Rob Henke-trumpet). The “tornado of energy” that is Diane Moser wrote the score, wrangled a quintet, booked the recording studio, got it mixed and delivered it all in two weeks. Rest In Peace dear Diane Moser. Thanks for your humanity and friendship, and thanks for the music.

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