Sunday 12 February 2017

Genuine Dud – THE DUDLEY MOORE TRIO***

Samantha/Yesterdays/Field Day For Shirley/Straight Life/Exactly Like You/If You Were The Only Girl In The World/You’d Be Nice To Come Home To/Blues For Boots/Fly Me To The Moon

Comedian Dudley Moore was also an accomplished jazz (and classical) pianist and his trio broke into the UK album chart for the second and final time with Genuine Dud. (UK:13)

"Music was central to Moore's life. An exceptionally gifted pianist who could sight-read and extemporise with remarkable ease, he had an amazing ability to change from jazz to classical. Classical pianists praised his performances of Bach fugues; the jazz fraternity dug his free flowing, lissom style."

"And they've hit such a nice tempo with this. It's so light you can just lean back and play."

"The only reason I knew Exactly Like You wasn't Peterson - not as anything against Dudley, far from it but I knew that towards the end of the first chorus, certainly by the beginning of the second, Peterson would have been using a lot more dazzling technique. Because he gets off very, very fast, with the full technique going, he'd have been well away. But this is nice - I like Dudley's economical approach very much. If the rest of it is as good, I'd like the album."

"I thought the record was very pleasant, but a little bit too unadventurous and straightforward for my taste, seeing as he's got nothing to contend with except the bass and drums. He could have spread out a bit more than that. With his technique and knowledge, it could be a little more spiced."

"I accept that Exactly Like You is an overall pleasing track, understating everything rather than overstating. Dudley can be dazzling, if he wants to be, but I don't think he was trying to dazzle on it."

"I dream of playing like Dudley Moore: Genuine Dud is still my desert island choice."

"If you've never heard Dudley Moore play, please give this a listen. If you're already a fan of this late lamented talented man you don't need me to sing his or the Trio's praises."

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