Moore began playing alto saxophone at age 7 in public school. As a freshman in high school, he took up drums as a member of the marching band. He switched to the bass during his second year. He has said that he was initially inspired by a recurring dream he had about playing the electric bass. He was influenced early by the playing of Paul Chambers, Jimmy Blanton, Ray Brown, and Ron Carter. One of Moore's first teachers was Rusty Holloway, an instructor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who himself had played with Woody Herman and Dizzy Gillespie, among others. Heeding Holloway's advice, Moore enrolled at the university as a classical studies and jazz performance major, with a concentration on electric bass and double bass. He began playing in bands in Knoxville, including Without Warning and Sage. After two and a half years, Moore transferred to the University of Memphis, to be in a city that provided more professional musical opportunities.
Career
Moore began playing nightly on Beale Street with The Charlie Wood Trio. He soon found additional work as a studio musician, teacher, and live performer. In 1996, Moore released his first solo album, Never Never Land, which he financed, arranged, and produced—at the time, an unusual move for a jazz musician. That year, Moore was nominated for a Premier Player award by the Memphis Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In 1997, Moore moved to Atlanta, where he has remained. He began playing there with Col. Bruce Hampton and his band the Fiji Mariners. As part of Hampton's band, Moore had the opportunity to play with a variety of accomplished guest musicians, including Warren Haynes, John Popper, Derek Trucks, Vassar Clements, and Buddy Miles. After releasing two more albums, Moore grew disillusioned with the "rat race experience" of shopping for a record deal and decided to start his own record label. He was inspired in part by the examples of musicians such as Ani DiFranco, Tony Levin, and Herbie Hancock. He also received some direct advice from Peter Erskine, drummer for the band Weather Report, who had also started his own label. Founded in 2003, Moore's was the first independent jazz label to be an all-digital label. Moore has maintained an active recording and touring schedule and played through the rest of the decade alongside a number of eminent musicians, including Stewart Copeland, Earl Klugh, Bob James, and Chris Duarte. In 2010, Moore released ', an album that he also composed, arranged, engineered, and mixed. His latest release as leader is the EP ', released in December 2011. For the Dutch Radio Westerwolde he made a Radio Jingle for The Toppyjazz Radio Show. In 2014/2015 he formed releasing a CD and titled, "Magnificent Obsession" on . The documentary movie is listed on and . in 2016, Joseph released "". "Decade II" which is a remastered CD compilation of selected composition's recorded between 2006 through 2015 and is a follow up to "". In 2017, Joseph moved to his current home of Henderson, Nevada. In addition to his hectic touring/recording schedule and productions for Blue Canoe Records, Joseph is contracted with Cirque Du Soleil as an “On-Call Artist” for the residence show “KA” located at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Currently, in 2019, Moore released . In addition to the bass, he played and programmed all the instruments on Nevada Sun. Mixed by J.P.M. and Mastered by Rich Breen.
