Mose John Allison Jr. (November 11, 1927 – November 15, 2016) was an American jazz and blues pianist, singer, and songwriter.[1] He became notable for playing a unique mix of blues and modern jazz, both singing and playing piano. After moving to New York in 1956, he worked primarily in jazz settings, playing with jazz musicians like Stan Getz, Al Cohn, and Zoot Sims, along with producing numerous recordings.
He is described as having been "one of the finest songwriters in 20th-century blues."[2] His songs were strongly dependent on evoking moods, with his individualistic, "quirky", and subtle ironic humor.[3] His writing influence on R&B had well-known fans recording his songs, among them Pete Townshend, who recorded his "Young Man Blues" for the Who's Live at Leeds album in 1970. John Mayall was one of dozens who recorded his classic, "Parchman Farm", and Georgie Fame used many of Allison's songs. Others who recorded his songs included Leon Russell ("I'm Smashed"), The Clash ("Look Here"), and Bonnie Raitt ("Everybody's Cryin' Mercy").
The 1980s saw an increase in his popularity with new fans drawn to his unique blend of modern jazz. In the 1990s he began recording more consistently. Van Morrison, Georgie Fame and Ben Sidran collaborated with him on a tribute album, Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison. The Pixies wrote the song "Allison" as a tribute.
Allison was born in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi on his grandfather's farm (known as "the Island"), located outside the small unincorporated community of Tippo. The farm got the name, according to Allison, "because Tippo Bayou encircles it."[5] He took piano lessons at 5,[6] picked cotton, played piano in grammar school and trumpet in high school,[7] and wrote his first song at 13.[8][9]
Allison attended the University of Mississippi for a while and then enlisted in the U.S. Army for two years.[10] Shortly after mustering out, he enrolled at Louisiana State University (LSU), from which he graduated in 1952 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a minor in philosophy.[11]
Allison received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from LSU in 2008.
When Allison plays, his words strike you first. There's a subtlety to his lyrics, taking sly jabs at difficult women and Western culture with impeccable wit. His delivery and resonance come off with a coy matter-of-factness, while his no-frills, laid-back singing sets the mood for his jazz trio to lean back and enjoy the ride.
It was not until 1963 that his record label allowed him to release an album entirely of vocals. Entitled Mose Allison Sings, it was a compilation of songs from his previous Prestige albums that paid tribute to artists, including Willie Dixon ("The Seventh Son", the first track the album), the Mojo Triangle: Sonny Boy Williamson ("Eyesight to the Blind"), and Jimmy Rogers ("That's All Right"). However, an original composition, with no connection other than the same title to "Bukka" White's 1940 "Parchman Farm", on the album brought him the most attention: "Parchman Farm". For more than two decades, "Parchman Farm" was his most requested song. He dropped it from his playlist in the 1980s partly because some critics felt it was politically incorrect,[13] but also, he specified, because, "You go to the Mississippi Delta and there are no cotton sacks. It's all machines and chemicals."[14]
Allison in 2007
Prestige tried to market Allison as a pop star, but Columbia and later Atlantic tried to market him as a blues artist. Because he sang blues, Jet magazine thought that he was black and wanted to interview him.[15]
Allison wrote some 150 songs.[6] His performances were described as being "delivered in a casual conversational way with a melodic southern accented tone that has a pitch and range ideally suited to his idiosyncratic phrasing, laconic approach and ironic sense of humour."[19]
Influence and legacy
It was said that Allison was a social critic before Bob Dylan and a music satirist before Randy Newman.[4] His music influenced many blues and rock artists, including Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Tom Waits, the Yardbirds, John Mayall, J. J. Cale, the Who (who made "Young Man Blues" a staple of their live performances), and Georgie Fame, who described him as "more important than Bob Dylan". Blue Cheer recorded a version of his song "Parchman Farm" on their debut album, as did Cactus. The Yardbirds and the Misunderstood both recorded versions of his song "I'm Not Talking". Manfred Mann also recorded a version for the BBC. John Evans, keyboardist for the band Jethro Tull, was influenced by Allison's piano playing, which he described as "so deceptively simple and impressive."[20]
Allison helped open the "blues' racial divide, proving that a white man from rural Mississippi could hold his own in a traditionally black genre."[12] The effort proved difficult, which he described in the lyrics of "Ever Since I Stole the Blues", one of his most famous songs: "Well the blues police from down in Dixieland / Tried to catch me with the goods on hand / Ever since the white boy stole the blues."[12]
Frank Black, of the band the Pixies, said that the song "Allison", from their album Bossanova, is about Mose Allison.[21] The film The Whole Nine Yards begins with Allison's song "I Don't Worry About a Thing" during the opening credits. Americana singer-songwriter Greg Brown wrote and performed the song "Mose Allison Played Here" for his 1997 album Slant 6 Mind.
The Dutch musician Herman Brood recorded several of Allison's songs, including "Going to the City", "Stop This World", "Back on the Corner", and "Swinging Machine". Brood's band Wild Romance was named from the line "I lost my mind in a wild romance" after hearing Mose Allison's recording (Local Color album, 1957) of Percy Mayfield's 1951 song "Lost Mind".
Allison received 3 Grammy nominations: in 1983 and 1988 for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Male, and in 2001 for Best Jazz Vocal Album.[citation needed]
In 2013, he was awarded the NEA Jazzmasters Award at Lincoln Center.[citation needed]
Personal life and death
Mose married his wife, Audre, in 1949.[12] They lived in Smithtown, New York, on Long Island,[22] where they raised four children, including a daughter, Amy, who is a musician.[23] Audre Allison said that when she first met Mose, "I could tell that he was someone who generated his own joy."[24] She also said, "Mose has always paid attention to what is happening in the world, and has always read voraciously both past and present histories."[9]
Allison was reported to have strong views about "the domination of money over everything, the growing lack of empathy on the part of the powers-that-be for the population, wars and more wars, and an underlying hypocrisy in society"[9] and the arrogance of colonizers of the Americas.
Some tracks trio, with Addison Farmer (bass), Jerry Segal (drums); some tracks trio with Henry Grimes (bass), Paul Motian (drums); some tracks trio with Bill Crow (bass), Gus Johnson (drums)
Some tracks trio, with Jack Hannah (bass) Jerry Granelli (drums); some tracks quartet, with Al Cohn (tenor sax) added; some tracks sextet, with Joe Farrell (tenor sax), David Sanborn (alto sax), Al Porcino (trumpet), Hannah (bass), Jerry Granelli (drums)
Some tracks trio, with Dennis Irwin (bass), Tom Whaley (drums); some tracks quartet, with Kenny Burrell (guitar) added; some tracks have Arthur Blythe (alto sax), Bob Malach (tenor sax, alto sax), Bennie Wallace (tenor sax) added in various combinations
With Ratzo Harris (bass), Ray Mantilla (congas), Paul Motian (drums), Randy Brecker (trumpet), Joe Lovano (alto sax), Bob Malach (tenor sax), Hugh McCracken (harmonica), John Scofield (guitar)
Most tracks with Jay Bellerose (drums, percussion), Greg Leisz (guitar, Weissenborn, mandola), David Piltch (bass), Walter Smith III (tenor sax), Anthony Wilson (guitar); one track with Amy Allison (vocals) added
Compilations
1963 : Mose Allison Sings (Prestige 7279), reissued as Seventh Son (Prestige 10052), 1973; released on CD as Greatest Hits (OJC 6004) in 1988; a "Rudy Van Gelder Remasters" edition (Concord 30011) was released with three additional tracks in 2006
1966 : Down Home Piano (Prestige 7423; CD reissue: OJC 922, 1997)
1967 : Mose Allison Plays for Lovers (Prestige 7446)
1970 : The Best of Mose Allison (Atlantic 1542), released on CD with eight additional tracks in 1988
1971 : Retrospective (Columbia C-30564)
1972 : Mose Allison (Prestige 24002), Sides A & B previously released in Prestige 7091 - "Back County Suite" Recorded 3/7/57, Sides C & D previously released in Prestige 7121 - "Local Color" Recorded 11/8/57
1994 : High Jinks! The Mose Allison Trilogy (Columbia/Epic/Legacy J3K-64275, three-CD set containing all the material from Columbia CS-8240, Columbia CS-8365, Epic BA-17031, plus six previously unreleased tracks)
1997 : Jazz Profile: Mose Allison (Blue Note 55230)
2010 : Mose Allison: The Collection (Floating World/Retro World FLOATM-6068, two-CD set)
2015 : Seven Classic Albums (Real Gone Jazz RGJCD-472, four-CD set containing all the material from Back Country Suite, Local Color, Young Man Mose, Ramblin' With Mose, Creek Bank, Autumn Song [all Prestige], and I Love the Life I Live [Columbia])
2016 : I’m Not Talkin’: The Song Stylings of Mose Allison 1957–1972 (BGP/Beat Goes Public CDBGPD-304)
2021 : The Complete Atlantic/Elektra Albums 1962-1983 (Strawberry Music QCRJAMBOX 003, six-CD set includes 10 studio and 2 live albums)
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