James Moody (1907–1995) (not to be confused with American saxophonist James Moody) was a

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

-born pianist, arranger and composer best known for his music for classical

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

, including twenty-two works for harmonica and piano, three works for harmonica and strings, eight works for harmonica and orchestra, and some two dozen other works for instrumental combinations such as harmonica and harp, harmonica and string quartet, and harmonica ensemble. He also arranged a lot of other music for harmonica, for example Irish, Scottish, English, and Norwegian folk melodies. Moody gained his first recognition as a pianist, and from the age of thirteen was earning a good living playing in cinemas for silent films in his native town

. He also wrote arrangements for and played piano in the Belfast-based Philip Whiteway Ensemble. In 1938 Moody moved to England, joining

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Bristol as a piano soloist, accompanist, and arranger. Over the next forty years he became a household name on British radio due to such long-running musical programs as ''Stop Dancing'' (1935–41) ''Accent on Rhythm'' (1937–56), '' Workers' Playtime'' (between 1954 and 1958 with guitarist

Bert Weedon Herbert Maurice William Weedon, OBE (10 May 1920 – 20 April 2012) was an English guitarist whose style of playing was popular and influential during the 1950s and 1960s. He was the first British guitarist to have a hit record in the ...

and drummer

Max Abrams Max Abrams (original name Max Abramovitch, 11 August 1907 – 5 November 1995), was a British dance band and jazz drummer and an influential teacher of several generations of drummers. Early career Born in Glasgow, Abrams was largely self-taught ...

), and ''As You Were'' (1961–75). As accompanist and music director for many such variety shows, he came into contact with the famous harmonica soloist Tommy Reilly. This inspired him to teach himself to play the harmonica so that he could arrange and compose idiomatically for the instrument. Reilly and Moody recorded many scores for the harmonica under the pen names ''Dwight Barker'' and ''Max Martin'', many of them recorded on 78 RPM records issued by Berry Music Moody and Reilly worked together on the title music and score for the British comedy film The Navy Lark (based on the BBC radio series) in 1959. Other works (mostly dating from the 1930s and 1940s) included the orchestral miniatures ''Bulgarian Wedding Dance'' and ''Palm Beach Promenade'', and piano compositions such as ''Boogie Caprice'',
Midsummer Madness
' and ''Parakeet in Paradise''. Moody's four movement ''Little Suite for harmonica and small orchestra'' (1960) was recorded by Reilly with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted by Neville Marriner in 1977. More recently his Quintet for harmonica and string quartet, composed in 1972, has been recorded by the Italian harmonica player Gianluca Littera and the Quartetto Energie Nove.Dynamic CDS7965, reviewed at ''MusicWeb International''
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References

External links

*The Official Tommy Reilly Web Site http://www.tommyreilly.co.uk/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Moody, James 1907 births 1995 deaths 20th-century Irish composers 20th-century Irish classical pianists Composers for harmonica Composers for piano Musicians from Belfast