Lee Moses

A commanding yet mysterious presence within soul, funk, and R&B circles, Lee Moses earned wider attention more than ten years after his passing, even though details of his personal story remain scarce, especially after the middle of the 1970s. His singing carried the raw, fervent intensity of 1960s Southern soul, stretching emotional limits with every phrase, while his guitar playing delivered a gritty, elemental scratchiness charged with energy, blending blues, rock, and funk into a singular voice. The early 45s gathered on How Much Longer Must I Wait? Singles & Rarities 1965-1972 showed a rugged Stax-inspired approach, whereas his only long-player, Time and Place from 1971, folded in funk grooves and hard-rock edges under Brantley’s guidance.

Born March 13, 1941, in Atlanta, Moses attended Booker T. Washington High School, where he performed in talent contests and picked up the guitar. During the 1950s he assembled the Showstoppers, a group that quickly became a fixture on the local Atlanta scene. By the mid-1960s he had moved to New York City and established himself as a session guitarist, chiefly alongside producer Johnny Brantley, another Georgian. Moses’ tough, emotive guitar lines and gravelly, heartfelt vocals soon became signatures of Brantley’s mid-1960s recordings; another frequent participant in those sessions was Jimi Hendrix, and after Hendrix’s death some of the joint material resurfaced on the album Moods.

Brantley secured Moses a contract with Musicor Records in 1967, yielding three singles that year: “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” b/w “Day Tripper,” “Bad Girl (Part I)” b/w “Bad Girl (Part II),” and “I’m Sad About It” b/w “How Much Longer (Must I Wait).” Despite their quality, the sides sold poorly, as did concurrent releases on Dynamo (“Never in My Life” b/w “If Loving You Is a Crime [I’ll Always Be Guilty]”) and Lee John Records (“Diana [From N.Y.C.]” b/w “My Adorable One”). In 1971 Maple Records, an All Platinum subsidiary, issued Time and Place, recorded with Moses’ road group the Disciples plus members of the Ohio Players; Brantley produced the set, a potent blend of deep soul and taut funk that went unnoticed at the time. A final 1973 single for Gates Records paired a searing “The Dark End of the Street” with “She’s a Bad Girl,” after which Moses parted ways with Brantley and the industry altogether, returning to the Atlanta area for occasional club work and never entering a studio again. He passed away in 1997 at age 56.

Although recognition eluded him while alive, crate-diggers and soul collectors later embraced Time and Place, driving original pressings to premium prices. Castle Music delivered a 2007 reissue on vinyl and CD that appended numerous single sides, while Future Days Records restored the album’s original running order in a 2016 edition; three years afterward the same imprint released How Much Longer Must I Wait? Singles & Rarities 1965-1972, rounding up every non-album 45 plus three previously unheard tracks.