Ken Moule | tr

Ken Moule (1925-1986) was an English pianist, composer, and arranger.

Moule was born in Barking, Essex. His musical career began with British dance bands; he left the Johnny Dankworth Quartet to join Oscar Rabin in 1945. After working on the Queen Mary on the transatlantic route, in a band with Ronnie Scott and Johnny Dankworth, he worked with many leading bands, including Jiver Hutchinson, Ken Mackintosh, Ambrose.

In 1954 he broke away and formed his own septet -- two tenor saxes, baritone sax, trumpet, and three-man rhythm section. It had a fair amount of success touring, broadcasting, and recording for Decca, but it split up because of internal frictions, and Moule gave up the band in May 1955 to form a trio. He briefly returning to Ambrose before joining Ted Heath's arranging staff. He continued limited freelance work with Don Rendell and the Jazz Today Unit.

In 1956 and 1957 he assembled a septet to record two albums for Decca. From 1960 to 1966 he worked in the theatre as musical director for Lionel Bart's shows Things Ain't What They Used to Be and Twang. As Ken Moule and his Music he broadcast frequently during the 1960s, appearing regularly in the BBC's Morning Music and Late Night Extra. He was also the pianist for the restaurant scenes in the television series Secret Army and was in many episodes. He later put together a group called The Full Score with which he broadcast and recorded.

As well as continuing to write for the theatre, he worked on his jazz compositions; in 1970 his ambitious piece, Adam's Rib Suite, was recorded by The London Jazz Chamber Group. He worked as a composer/arranger in Germany during the late 1970s until ill health made him move to the warmer climate of Spain. He died in Marbella, Spain in 1986. .