“Gerry” Gerald Asher Moore (October 8, 1903, London –
January 29, 1993, Twickenham) was an English jazz pianist.
Moore played piano as a child, later studied at Brighton Grammer School. Did first paid gigs at nineteen, then in 1925 made professional debut at Sherry's in Brighton. Then moved to London where he worked freelance up to 1939 working freelance in movie palaces and nightclubs. Among the clubs in which he
worked are the Empress Rooms (1927), Chez Rex Evans
(1933–34), the Bag o’ Nails (1932–36), the 43 Club (1934–35), and Mema’s
(1934–39).
Coleman Hawkins |
Moore was one of the few musicians to manage to make a
living playing jazz in the pre-war era, although he did compromise when times
were hard by joining Victor Sylvester's Ballroom Dancing
Orchestra. But he couldn't stand the strict tempo work and left after a few months, writing a letter to the Melody Maker which set out his hatred of what he saw as a job on a treadmill. Needless to say this didn't please Sylvester and the correspondence which ensued in the columns of the paper was robust, to say the least.
Orchestra. But he couldn't stand the strict tempo work and left after a few months, writing a letter to the Melody Maker which set out his hatred of what he saw as a job on a treadmill. Needless to say this didn't please Sylvester and the correspondence which ensued in the columns of the paper was robust, to say the least.
He had his own band, Gerry
Moore's Chicago Brethren, which was one of the earliest British jazz groups.
The band included trombonist George Chisholm and trumpeter Johnny Claes and
recorded for Decca in 1937.
His recording career began two years earlier when he made five piano solo records for Parlophone, including his own composition Gerry Building. He also made solo recordings under the supervision of Victor Sylvester, but these were not in the jazz vein.
Benny Carter, an American alto player on a par with
Coleman Hawkins, spent a long period in England working for the BBC during the
Thirties and he chose Moore and the trumpeter Tommy McQuater to record with him
in 1936. His first live appearance on BBC radio in September 1936 was heralded
in The Radio Times with a listing as "Britain's 'King of Swing'".
Moore's club work continued into the war and he played at
the Florida Club with Adelaide Hall from 1940 to 1942. He toured Germany with
Max Geldray in 1947 and went to the Paris Jazz Fair with Carlo Krahmer's band
in 1949.
Originally influenced by Earl Hines, he was one of the
few senior musicians to grasp the structure of be-bop when it was first heard
in Britain in the mid-Forties. London's Club Eleven was the crucible for the
young musicians in the be-bop movement and John Dankworth recalls that Moore
was a father-figure giving encouragement to the youngsters, who included
Dankworth and Ronnie Scott.
Moore played at the Palm Beach Hotel in Cannes from 1948
to 1950 and joined Harry Gold's Pieces of Eight in 1954, subsequently moving to
Laurie Gold's group when his brother disbanded.
In 1952 Moore won much acclaim from jazz enthusiasts when
he defied a Musicians' Union ban on English musicians working with two American
visitors, the guitarist Lonnie Johnson and the pianist Ralph Sutton. Due to
some lunatic Ministry of Labour legislation, American musicians were then
forbidden to work in Britain. By some aberration Johnson and Sutton were
granted work permits, and Moore, along with the alto saxophonist Joe Harriott
and the drummer Dickie Devere, were amongst those musicians who chose to defy
the ban.
Caronia |
(Edited mainly from an article by Steve Voce @ The
Independent)
I cannot find any photographs of Gerry Moore. Some
sources show wrong photograph of Gerald Moore CBE, the classical pianist
instead.
2 comments:
For “Some British Jazz Pianists” go here:
https://www.upload.ee/files/10572836/VA-British_Jazz_Pianists.rar.html
1. Heliotrope Boquet - Geoff Griffiths 2:31
2. Monkey Blues - Max Darewski 2:28
3. Piano Man Rag - Joe Bolton 3:05
4. Ringtail Blues - Billy Jones 3:03
5. Maple Leaf Rag - Billy Jones 3:14
6. The Cascades - Billy Jones 3:02
7. Pork And Greens - Billy Jones 2:24
8. Why Don't You Practise What You Preach? - Gerry Moore 2:56
9. Brown Sugar Mine - Gerry Moore 3:04
10. Lulu's Back In Town - Gerry Moore 2:59
11. Gerry Building - Gerry Moore 3:10
12. May Write Blues - Gerry Moore 3:27
13. Old Fashioned Love - Gerry Moore 2:51
14. Jammin' - Gerry Moore 2:47
15. Crazy Rhythm - Gerry Moore 2:40
16. Wabash Blues - Gerry Moore 2:43
17. Rosetta - Gerry Moore 2:55
18. Stars Fell On Alabama - by Gerry Moore 3:26
19. St. Louis Blues - Reginald Foresythe 2:59
20. Because It's Love - Reginald Foresythe, Arthur Young 3:14
21. Tiger Rag - Reginald Foresythe, Arthur Young 2:31
22. Turquoise - Arthur Young 2:44
23. Sapphire - Arthur Young 3:08
24. Amethyst - Arthur Young 2:14
This CD features solos by six British jazz pianists, of whom the best-remembered are Arthur Young and Reginald Foresythe, although it's Gerry Moore who gets the lion's share with ten tracks, some of which feature rhythm accompaniment. He was a member of Victor Silvester's strict-tempo dance orchestra, but free of that metronomic straitjacket he shows in these mid to late thirties recordings that he was the equal of the best America had to offer.
Billy Jones' claim to fame is that he replaced J Russell Robinson as pianist to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band when they were in England, and recorded nine sides with them before they returned to America. The four solos in this CD were recorded for Decca in 1945, but this is their first time of issue.
Two 1934 solos by Reginald Foresythe are included, and a 1938 duet with Arthur Young. That same year the latter also recorded four acetates of compositions by Art Tatum, and the three surviving copies have been used to produce the closing tracks.
Great! ;)
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