Lee Moses – Time and Place (1971)

Booker T. High

Here is a true lost figure in the history of R&B. The story starts March 13, 1941 in Atlanta, GA – where Lee Moses was born.  Moses began playing the guitar while attending Booker T. Washington High School for the performing arts.  God only knows how funky that school must have been.

Moses began his professional career during the 50’s in Atlanta playing with a band called The Showstoppers. After gaining local notoriety, Moses met producer Johnny Brauntly in New York around 1965. Brauntly used him as a session guitarist (along with left-handed player named Hendrix) where he cut three singles for Musicor Records in 1967. Time and Place came shortly thereafter in 1971. Backed by his own band called the Desciples (sic) (including members of the Ohio Players) Moses managed to put out his only known full album.

After playing as second fiddle, it’s no surprise that Moses had a lot of pent-up talent. Similar to Bobby Womack’s debut album Fly Me to the Moon, Time and Place shows what happens when you let the funk out of the box. In it, Moses works through a handful of original compositions and covers with the sweat and swagger normally associated with Sam Cooke and James Brown. It’s not that Moses was out to prove himself, but instead the album shows an artist who seems to thoroughly enjoy what he’s doing. His haunting rendition of California Dreaming and truthfully soulful Hey Joe show how talented Moses was. His last known release was a version of the soul classic “The Dark End of the Street” – which can be found on this album. Moses died in Atlanta in 1997 to no fanfare, twitter updates or radio shout-outs. The album coming at you today was put out by Castle Music in 2007 as a compilation of Time and Place and a couple other 45’s Moses put out on the Musicor, Dynamo and Gates labels during the 60's and 70's. It’s a shame his work wasn’t better documented. Either way, his legacy lives on here.


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