 Mosse learned clarinet and alto saxophone early in life, and switched to tenor sax at the beginning of the 1950s.Based out of Chicago during the decade, he made several forays abroad, playing in Paris with Wallace Bishop in 1951, Django Reinhardt, and Woody Herman on his 1953 tour of Europe.Upon returning to Chicago in 1955 he played with Bill Russo, Chubby Jackson, James Moody, and Cy Touff.