The Other Side Of Dudley Moore (1965) [vinyl>flac]

Jazz musician and writer Simon Spillett said of this album: "This is a true classic and illustrates the breadth and depth of the musical mind that lay behind the comic persona. "My Blue Heaven" and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" are out-and-out groovers, smack in the middle of the great piano trio tradition, but Moore's own compositions take in a far wider trawl for inspiration and influence. "Lysie Does It" would not sit too awkwardly on an Andrew Hill album; "Poova Nova" is bossa nova lounge music as only a performer from the 1960s could envisage it, whilst "Sooz Blues" takes its cue from the unexpected resource of John Coltrane's "Equinox". The ballad "Sad One For George" is among Moore's greatest compositions, touching upon the melancholy of Bill Evans, and it is Evans who the trio evoke explicitly in its rearrangement of the old Dixieland warhorse "Indiana", surely one of the most brilliant transformations of a standard tune imaginable..."

From biography by Heather Phares:
"Though he was renowned as a groundbreaking British comedian and achieved Hollywood stardom thanks to his roles in 10 and Arthur, Dudley Moore took the most pride in his accomplishments as a musician and composer. A choirboy at age six and the organist at church weddings by 14, as a child Moore found refuge in music from the hospital stays and taunting from other children he endured because of his club foot. Eventually, he won a scholarship to Magdalen College at Oxford to study the organ, but he left the school to play jazz piano with Johnny Dankford and tour the U.S. with Vic Lewis. When he returned to Oxford, he met comedian Peter Cook and joined the satirical sketch comedy revue Beyond the Fringe, where his over-the-top piano solos earned him his first widespread success. Moore's witty, whimsical musical and comedic stylings complemented Cook's more acerbic sense of humor perfectly, and throughout the '60s and '70s the pair continued to mix humor and music in projects like the BBC show Not Only But Also and their foul-mouthed alter-egos Derek and Clive. Moore and Cook also made several films together, and Moore composed the music for movies including 30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia and the classic Bedazzled. During the '70s and '80s, Moore found the time to release several albums' worth of piano-based jazz, including Dudley Moore at the Waredon Festival and Come Again, in between his film, television, and stage work. Both his comedy and music careers waned in the '90s due to health problems."

Dudley Moore (p), Pete McGurk (b), Chris Karan (d)
Rec 1965

My Blue Heaven/Lysie Does It/Poova Nova/Take Your Time/Indiana/Sooz Blooz/Baubles, Bangles And Beads/Sad One For George/Autumn Leaves.