This series includs music manuscripts composed and arranged by Phil Moore including scores and parts for full orchestra and small ensembles, vocalist with keyboard accompaniment, lead sheets, and initial sketches. Moore composed in a wide range of genres, but works in various jazz styles popular during the early 1940s through the 1960s are particularly well represented. The works include arrangements for night club acts, musicals, and studio recordings; soundtrack material for films, television productions, cartoons, and commercials; and various forms of Western art music. When known, thename of the artist a specific arrangement was made for has been provided.

The collection includes pieces that Phil Moore arranged and/or composed for a number of well-known artists. Among some of the more notable names are Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll, Frank Sinatra, LaVern Baker, Jerry Butler, Clifton Davis, Goldie Hawn, Joyce Bryant, Quincy Jones, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Novella Nelson, Bobby Short, Long John Nebel, a final manifestation of the Supremes in the 1970, and Moore's own groups the Phil Moore Four, the Phil Moore Flock, and Phil Moore and His Orchestra. Some of the commercial albums or associated live acts suspected to be represented by the arrangements in this series are as follows:

1. Am I Blue? (1956) / Betty Madigan [Collector Nos. 581, 584--587, 589--592]
2. Select tracks of Come with Me to the Casbah (1959) / Chick Ganimian & His Orientals [727--729]
3. Folk Songs (1963) / Jerry Butler [1444-1454]
4. LaVern Baker Sings Bessie Smith (1958) / LaVern Baker [772--775, 815--822]
5. Long John Nebel and the Phil Moore Four and Friends (1970s?) / Long John Nebel [2066--2075]
6. Love (1956) / Julie Wilson [259, 572--573, 576--583]
7. The Mad Twenties (1959) / Bobby Short [796, 834--836, 867--871]
8. Mary Ann McCall Sings (1950) / Mary Ann McCall [1140--1144]
9. Nobody Else but Me (1970) / Bobby Short [685--688]
10. Novella Nelson (undated) / Novella Nelson [1775, 1823, 1825--1826, 1831, 1836--1838, 1840, 1842, 1845]
11. Polynesian Paradise (1959) / Phil Moore Orchestra [746, 837--848]
12. Rare! Hot! & Cole Porter (ca. 1965) / Sheila Sanders [1559--1560, 1570, 1745--1749]
13. Sing Me a Swing Song (1958) / Bobby Short [689--692, 698--701, 734--737]
14. Stepping Out (1958) / Lurlean Hunter [116, 646--647, 622--628, 660]
15. That Satin Doll (1957) / Carol Stevens [587, 595--604]
16. This One Is the Toni (1958) / Toni Caroll [781--792]
17. Unpredictable (1962) / Patrice Munsel [81, 1230, 1426, 1466--1476]
18. The Voice Is Rich (1959) / Buddy Rich [850--853, 872--876, 878, 1351]
19. The Voice of Martha Raye (1950) / Martha Raye [207, 925--928, 1316]
20. The Voices of Don Elliott (1957) / Don Elliott [673--684]

A number of arrangements that Moore created for artists such as Lena Horne and Annette Warren as part of his work at Les Schreiber's Black & White Records in New York also appear to be in the collection. Another interesting set of arrangements is a set of unreleased tracks recorded [and possibly composed] circa 1975 by Alison Mills. Mills is a Black feminist author and filmmaker whose novel Francisco (1974) received high praise from Toni Morrison around this time. A cassette with studio recordings of several of these pieces also appears in Moore's collection (COL 6 AC 60) and the sound is reminiscent of the Ethio-jazz being released at this time.

Large-scale musical production represented by the collection include $600 and a Mule (Wilson and Arthur Smalls Jr., 1973; directed/orchestrated by Luther Henderson and Phil Moore) and the 1977 Miss Black America Pageant.

The coverage of films in the collection is sparse and it is unclear if these arrangements were used during the actual production of the films or for live performances and commercial recordings created afterwards. Moore is known to have worked on Cabin in the Sky and Panama Hattie, both of which have several arrangements in the collection.

Television shows include the Clifton Davis Show, Cotton Club '75, The Ellis Space Class Show, Fans of the Kosko Show, Freeman, an episode of The Judy Garland Show, Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town, and Uptown at the Apollo (1984). Moore also worked with UPA Pictures, Inc. in the 1950s scoring cartoons and commercials. There are manuscripts for several of these productions including the following:

1. Rooty Toot Toot (1951)
2. "Meet the Inventor: Eli Whitney," The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show (circa 1956)
3. "Meet the Inventor: Samuel F. B. Morse," The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show (circa 1956)
4. "Two by Two," The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show (circa 1956)
5. Tang commercial (1958) [695--697, includes storyboards]

Music for General Electric [1349] and Bandaid [1350] commercials are also in the collection.

In addition to his popular music arrangements and compositions, Moore also composed a number of Western art music pieces. Many of these were released on commercial albums including Portrait of Leda (Columbia, 1958), Fantasy for Girl and Orchestra (Verve Records, undated), New York Sweet (Mercury, ca. 1964) [1433--1443], and Moore's Tour: An American in England (MGM Records, 1959) [1051--1062, 2045]. Other pieces including Rip Van Winkle, Robert Fulton, a piano concerto, a tocatta, a scherzo for quartet and strings, a suite for strings, and a string quartet, seem to be previously unreleased. Moore arrangements for his popular 1961 vocalist training kit For Singers Only also appear in the collection.

All of these categories contain a significant number of sketches and it is often unclear which of these went on to serve as the basis of the final arrangement and/or performance and which were ultimately rejected by Moore or the artist. In many cases, the same piece has been arranged for several different artists. It is also quite likely that additional shows, recordings, and musical acts are represented by the collection, since this information is often poorly identified. It has been provided when either directly stated or easily determined based on other clues written on a piece.