Musicians who act, and actors who play/sing

[sgcim]

When I read a book on British jazz in the 50s and 60s, they had a huge picture of all the top jazzmen in England, and standing with the pianists like Gordon Beck, was Dudley Moore.
Unlike the moonlighters mentioned here (other than 'joe Doggs' who was named after a brutal mafioso!), DM could play well enough to be considered an important up and coming jazz pianist before he went into acting.

[Litterick]

Rock'n'roll had faded away while Elvis was in Germany. He had to do something else.

[joelf]

Not really a dramatic actor, but Lester Holt is a bass player.

Lester Holt Bass - Google Search

Wow! Who knew?...

[emanresu]

Natural born actors can be better frontmen than natural born singers. Sometimes.

[jameslovestal]

Natural born actors can be better frontmen than natural born singers. Sometimes.

Do you believe there are also "natural born" musicians?

[emanresu]

Do you believe there are also "natural born" musicians?

Dunno.
I think about myself as musician (not anything exceptional at all) but have 0 pleasure when it comes to performing. Even if everything is alright.

One time, in schoolyears, the acting students made a concert-type performance. It was part of a course of course.
This was sooooooooooooo different than what our singers did for grades . Very exciting.
I mean... seriously. If you need a new rock or pop singer in your band, go look for them in acting schools instead.

[Litterick]

What if Jimmy Page were putting together Led Zeppelin and found a singer who was much better than Robert Plant, but had no stage presence?

[citizenk74]

What if Jimmy Page were putting together Led Zeppelin and found a singer who was much better than Robert Plant, but had no stage presence?

Would be different, that's for sure. If you if you have AM/FM aspirations, stage presence becomes a factor. Assuming you want to play to bigger and bigger audiences. Underground darlings? Art-house best-kept secrets? Well-funded ego project? Sure, go with skill and precision. Auto-tune did not materialize without a perceived need. I am emphatically not endorsing this phenomenon; merely attesting to its existence.

[joelf]

When I read a book on British jazz in the 50s and 60s, they had a huge picture of all the top jazzmen in England, and standing with the pianists like Gordon Beck, was Dudley Moore.
Unlike the moonlighters mentioned here (other than 'joe Doggs' who was named after a brutal mafioso!), DM could play well enough to be considered an important up and coming jazz pianist before he went into acting.

I understand he developed a horrible, Parkinson's-like condition and was too debilitated to work any more. This was some years ago. He passed on in '02.

A sad end for a wonderful talent...

[Litterick]

Moore was as much a musician as a comedian. He died in 2002, from progressive supranuclear palsy.

[grahambop]

Dudley Moore could really play. There’s a video of him playing that tune:

[Woody Sound]

Wow! Who knew?...

Lester Holt Bass - Google Search
Dueling basses with Christian McBride

[Doctor Jeff]

What if Jimmy Page were putting together Led Zeppelin and found a singer who was much better than Robert Plant, but had no stage presence?

Led Zeppelin would not have happened without the alchemy that was the original 4. (OK, no offense drummers, but as we know from Spinal Tap and the Beatles drummers are replaceable.) So without Plant’s pipes and showmanship, no Led Zepp.

Moore was as much a musician as a comedian. He died in 2002, from progressive supranuclear palsy.

He started out as a jazz pianist and played with Cleo Laine among others. Then he partnered with Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett in Beyond the Fringe, one of the preeminent British satirical groups that revolutionized British humor in the ‘60’s.

I remember when his career went downhill (he was fired from a Streisand movie for forgetting his lines). It was attributed to alcoholism, when in fact it was his neurological condition. This is the same condition that took the life of Johnny Cash and is affecting Linda Ronstadt. Unfortunate, but he had quite a career.

This is rather funny. Too bad no close captioning LOL…

”Isn’t there a lot of poverty over there?”

”Yes, but luckily it’s all been concentrated in the slum areas. It’s beautifully done, you’d hardly notice it.”

[EllenGtrGrl]

Nice song—he sings better than Joey, who’s actually not too bad himself. Joe actually was a barber as a young man and was in several bands, including Joey Dee and the Starlighters, who had a hit with Peppermint Twist. He was a partner and good friend with Frank Vincent (actor in numerous mob movies and the Sopranos), which led to him doing musical theater and acting in films. He was spotted by Scorsese in a low-budget movie, and the rest is history.

He went by the name Joe Ritchie in his early recordings from the ‘60’s.

He is also a big music lover, and befriended the great singer Jimmy Scott in the latter’s later years. He was a big booster for Jimmy, and as I recall bankrolled or produced some of his later recordings and the documentary about Jimmy.

Yep, and Joe Pesci was also friends with Pat Martino, who he knew from the lounge circuit in the 60s. He went to a Pat Martino show in the 90s or 00s, and after the show, chatted with Pat. It was the first time they had encountered each other in a very long time (since before Pat had the brain surgery that saved his life, but messed up his memory so badly). Pat didn't remember that him and Joe had been friends back in the day, and Joe commented about this, and told Pat (to prove that they were friends), that he knew what Pat drank back in the day - a grasshopper! When he said that, all of Pat's memories about him and Joe came rushing back to him.

As for Jeff Bridges - Beau Bridges commented in a documentary, that him and Jeff used to perform informally as a duo, when they were young, and mentioned how Jeff gave Beau's guitar (a 50s or early 60s Danelectro) to friend as a gift (to Beau's ire)!

[NewNewcastleBud]

As mentioned before, John Lurie, as well as Tom Waits in Down By Law.
Also Dwight Yokam.
And Robert Downey,Jr. is a very good pianist.

[joelf]

...Tom Waits in Down By Law.

He's also in this scene from The Fisher King:

[Litterick]

So without Plant’s pipes and showmanship, no Led Zepp.

A different Led Zeppelin, more likely.

[sgcim]

Led Zeppelin would not have happened without the alchemy that was the original 4. (OK, no offense drummers, but as we know from Spinal Tap and the Beatles drummers are replaceable.) So without Plant’s pipes and showmanship, no Led Zepp.



He started out as a jazz pianist and played with Cleo Laine among others. Then he partnered with Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett in Beyond the Fringe, one of the preeminent British satirical groups that revolutionized British humor in the ‘60’s.

I remember when his career went downhill (he was fired from a Streisand movie for forgetting his lines). It was attributed to alcoholism, when in fact it was his neurological condition. This is the same condition that took the life of Johnny Cash and is affecting Linda Ronstadt. Unfortunate, but he had quite a career.

This is rather funny. Too bad no close captioning LOL…

”Isn’t there a lot of poverty over there?”

”Yes, but luckily it’s all been concentrated in the slum areas. It’s beautifully done, you’d hardly notice it.”

They had the nerve to remake Moore and Cook's ingenious "Bedazzled in 2010. How could you possibly improve on the 1967 original?

[Litterick]

They had the nerve to remake Moore and Cook's ingenious "Bedazzled in 2010. How could you possibly improve on the 1967 original?

They are not trying to improve on originals any more. They are not even trying to make a good film. It is all content.

[Ukena]

They had the nerve to remake Moore and Cook's ingenious "Bedazzled in 2010. How could you possibly improve on the 1967 original?

Somebody likes the story, so wants to try their hand at it. Happens all the time. I do prefer Moore and Cook's version.

For me, the worst of these remakes was Mel Brooks' production of To Be or Not To Be. The original, with Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, was made during WWII, and has lots of poignancy and is terrifically funny, and is about something serious that was about current events.

The remake was just about jokes, and although it was filled with funny people, was not really very funny. But I think Brooks and Bancroft saw it as a tribute, not a ripoff, and that has its positive side.

Disclaimer: I adore the original film, so I took it personally.

And of course, Jack Benny played the violin. After a fashion.

[jameslovestal]

Steve Allen had many talents;

Here is a song he wrote as played by Grant Green:

[wintermoon]

Steve Allen had many talents;

Here is a song he wrote as played by Grant Green:

An ok melody but some of the corniest lyrics ever put to paper

[sgosnell]

He also wrote the lyrics to the theme from Picnic, a contrafact of Moonglow, and often played as a medley with it.

[joelf]

Somebody likes the story, so wants to try their hand at it. Happens all the time. I do prefer Moore and Cook's version.

For me, the worst of these remakes was Mel Brooks' production of To Be or Not To Be. The original, with Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, was made during WWII, and has lots of poignancy and is terrifically funny, and is about something serious that was about current events.

The remake was just about jokes, and although it was filled with funny people, was not really very funny. But I think Brooks and Bancroft saw it as a tribute, not a ripoff, and that has its positive side.

Yeah, but Brooks created an entire character---Sondheim, the stage manager----gave him lines, paid him.

Why? For the sole reason of when the Nazis made the troupe ditch the Naughty Nazi sketch they substituted a clown act. Just so the following stupid line could be uttered: (C'mon, everybody say)

'SONDHEIM, SEND IN THE CLOWNS!!'

Now THAT'S dedication!...

[jameslovestal]

An ok melody but some of the corniest lyrics ever put to paper

I agree; such lyrics often "work" as part of a movie (e.g. boy-meets-girl, girls says goodnight, and the boy sings this song).

But as stand-by-themselves lyrics; not.