ARTIST FEATURE: Oskar Moore from ‘The Dream: Monash Sessions’

Our recent release, The Dream: Monash Sessions, features music by Dave Douglas in collaboration with musicians from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. We’re featuring a number of these musicians here on the blog, and today we’re highlighting trombonist Oskar Moore.

He has fostered his love of improvised music from the age of 10 under the guidance of Scott Tinkler, Ben Gillespie, Peter Knight, Ian Whitehurst, Jordan Murray and many others. His foundation in improvisation lies in New Orleans brass band music, however, he draws influence from many genres within the jazz idiom.

Oskar responded to our email questions as follows:

What instrument do you play and can you describe the room you recorded in?

I play the trombone. The room I recorded in has a pretty wet acoustic. Brick walls and not much furniture. I grew to love the sound of this room throughout 2020.

What was the biggest challenge of remote recording and how did it differ from challenges to in person playing?

It’s unfortunate to not be able to have any two-way interaction during the remote recording process. It’s also really hard to create a setup that makes you feel like your sound is in the ensemble; you have to manage being able to hear the ensemble in the headphones as well as being able to hear yourself. It’s an augmented reality.

How will the musical interactions you’ve had via remote stay in your practice when the lockdown is eased, if at all?

I was able to meet some new people via the remote ensemble projects, and I’m looking forward to meeting them in a post-lockdown world, face-to-face.

Where do you see yourself and your music fitting into the community of musicians?

At the moment I’m trying to develop myself as a versatile musician, and I would like to be a part of a broad range of styles across the music scene, not just within jazz. I have a particular fondness for trad jazz, and I plan on creating my own trad group in the near future.

Where can people learn more about your work?

As of right now I don’t have much of my work online, but stay posted on my social media for gigs and upcoming projects. I’m on Facebook here.

The Dream: Monash Sessions is available exclusively on Bandcamp here.