Jazz Of Dudley Moore By The Chris Ingham Quartet at The Concorde

JAZZ OF DUDLEY MOORE

CHRIS INGHAM piano PAUL HIGGS trumpet
GEOFF GASCOYNE bass GEORGE DOUBLE drums

For all the acclaim he received as a comic actor, and the affection with which he is remembered as a hilarious and lovable personality, it may be that the most interesting thing about Dudley Moore's reputation is how undervalued he is as a jazzman and composer.

It's easy to see why. In the 1960s, as modern jazz got edgier and angrier, the Dudley Moore Trio popping up on primetime TV with their slick, upbeat take on the Oscar/Erroll tradition hardly represented the hip forefront of what jazz was 'about'. And if a musician had any kind of showbiz profile - and goodness did Dudley have one of those - lack of jazz credibility was probably an inevitable side-effect....

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JAZZ OF DUDLEY MOORE

CHRIS INGHAM piano PAUL HIGGS trumpet
GEOFF GASCOYNE bass GEORGE DOUBLE drums

For all the acclaim he received as a comic actor, and the affection with which he is remembered as a hilarious and lovable personality, it may be that the most interesting thing about Dudley Moore's reputation is how undervalued he is as a jazzman and composer.

It's easy to see why. In the 1960s, as modern jazz got edgier and angrier, the Dudley Moore Trio popping up on primetime TV with their slick, upbeat take on the Oscar/Erroll tradition hardly represented the hip forefront of what jazz was 'about'. And if a musician had any kind of showbiz profile - and goodness did Dudley have one of those - lack of jazz credibility was probably an inevitable side-effect.

And perhaps there was a hint of the dilettante-genius about Dudley. The organ scholar who specialised in classical parodies at Oxford, the adorable pint-sized stooge to Peter Cook's barbed flights of comic fancy, the Hollywood 'sex thimble', the Gershwin concertos, the emphasis of the classical repertoire in his latter musical efforts. This kind of versatility indicates a musician some way from being a dedicated jazz man and is the very enemy of jazz posterity.

Not that we particularly care about the state of Dud's jazz posterity. But it would be nice if our efforts opened a few ears to the jazz side of this remarkable musician.

Chris Ingham

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