Moore By Four
Inducted 2022
Moore by Four was formed in 1986 at Ruby’s Cabaret in Minneapolis, and quickly established themselves as a fixture on the Twin Cities music scene. The group was made up of Music Director Sanford Moore and singers Yolande Bruce, Ginger Commodore, Connie Evingson and Dennis Spears. Their swing-era repertoire, high-‘80s fashion sense, and music-making ability propelled them to group and solo careers in cabarets, concert halls and theaters everywhere. Moore by Four’s high-energy stage presence, distinctive voices, close harmonies, precise vocal control and polish, pulsating rhythms, innovative arrangements, varied songbook, and unerring fashion sense made Moore by Four a must-see-and-hear during the 1980s and ’90s. Their grounding in gospel, early & contemporary jazz, pop, original compositions and new arrangements of the great standards from Broadway, Hollywood and the Cotton Club period provided a broad range to the group’s musical offerings. Led by Sanford Moore who arranged the music and played keyboards- they were cool. They were fun. And could they ever sing! Moore by Four enjoyed years of sold-out concerts The Guthrie and Fitzgerald Theaters, weekly gigs, benefits, corporate functions, colleges and universities, tours of Europe and Japan, jazz festival appearances, and performances with Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Connick Jr., Joe Williams, and Carmen McRae. They sang for The U.S. Olympic Committee, The Super Bowl, The Minnesota Twins, Vikings, and Timberwolves, former President and Mrs. Clinton, Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev, Vaclav Havel and The King and Queen of Sweden! They’re all so tremendously talented, the singers eventually moved on to individual careers in music and theater. SANFORD MOORE is always in demand as a Music Director, arranger, and pianist- very often with The Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul. YOLANDE BRUCE performs locally, nationally, and internationally, and has acted at The Penumbra, The Illusion, and Guthrie Theaters in St. Paul and Minneapolis. GINGER COMMODORE, a former Sounds of Blackness member (inducted to The Minnesota Music Hall of Fame in 1998), performs with her own quartet and has piled up theater credits with The Penumbra, Mixed Blood, Children’s Theatre, Park Square, The Minnesota Opera and Wonderlust (The Capitol Play Project) throughout the Twin Cities area. CONNIE EVINGSON has released several acclaimed albums and performs often at The Dakota and Crooners in the Twin Cities, singing everything from swing to “hot club” jazz, from The Beatles to Dave Frishberg. Connie has her own series at The Minneapolis Women’s Club and The Jungle Theater in Minneapolis. DENNIS SPEARS is an Ivey award-winning actor and long-time Penumbra Theatre company member. He’s also Artistic Director for The Legends Music Series at The Capri Theater in North Minneapolis (voted “Best Venue for Live Jazz” by Minnesota Monthly magazine). Spears has performed in theaters all over the Twin Cities (he was the Tin Man in Children’s Theater Company production of The Wiz) and at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. He sings solo at The Dakota and Crooners. In 2013 Dennis was inducted as a solo performer into The Minnesota Music Hall of Fame.
