It’s All About… Head Of Bass Paul Moore

27 March, 2015

There can be few bass players as widely experienced as Head of Bass at BIMM Dublin, Paul Moore. This year Paul celebrates 27 years as a professional bass player with an enviable musical resumé that’s certainly worth looking back over.

Paul has performed and recorded material with artists as diverse as The Chieftains, Katie Melua, Julie Feeney, Ronnie Drew, Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, and — for almost the past decade — the legendary Van Morrison.

In that timespan Paul has appeared on three of Van Morrison’s studio albums and toured as part of his live support band. This month a new Van Morrison album sees the light of day, once again featuring Paul’s bass-playing talents.

‘Duets: Reworking the Catalogue’ pairs Van with an eclectic collection of some of his favourite singers, each duetting with Van on selected material from the Northern Irish singer-songwriter’s extensive back catalogue.

The guest vocalists include the late Bobby Womack, Joss Stone, PJ Proby, Michael Bublé, Mavis Staples, Natalie Cole, Georgie Fame, George Benson, Clare Teal, Steve Winwood, Shana Morrison, Taj Mahal, Mick Hucknall and more besides, all ably supported by Paul’s accomplished bass work.

Paul himself has a strong musical heritage, with a renowned session musician for a father and his professional bass-playing Uncle Tommy, who has himself tutored many a BIMM undergraduate. Another family member, Uncle Butch, was a popular showband era performer and has the accolade of being the first ever entry for Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Outside of his work with recording artists, Paul’s talents have been employed on a range of diverse musical projects. He is the first call Bassist for the RTE Concert Orchestra and Electric Bassist for the RTE Symphony Orchestra. He has worked on a range of movie soundtracks and has played live bass for a run of successful stage musicals, amongst them West Side Story, Singin’ In The Rain, Les Miserables, Chicago, Wicked, Meet Me in St. Louis, Bugsy Malone, Oklahoma!, 42nd St and many more.

Paul performed with the National Symphony Orchestra at the ceremony marking Queen Elizabeth’s state visit to Dublin, and again for Irish President Michael D. Higgins’ visit to London, performing at ‘Céiliuradh’, the celebration of Irish culture which took place at The Royal Albert Hall.

Add to that his live work with Eddi Reader, Sinead O’Connor, Alex Chilton, Elvis Costello, Rita Coolidge and countless other international talents and it’s very apparent how highly thought of Paul Moore is in the world of professional musicians.