The Good Musician

Mose Allison, come back to Austin.

by csnowden on July 24th, 2008

The last time I heard Mose Allison live was at the Continental Club in ‘85 or so. I discovered Mose at college in ‘63, and the first time I heard him on 33-1/3 vinyl I could have sworn he was black. I was astonished when my friend showed me the cover. As I listened more closely, I was amazed at his unusual piano style, a fusion of jazz and blues. He hums and grunts along with his piano solos, kinda like Glenn Gould does in his definitive Bach recordings.

It’s a distinctive style that no one has been able to copy. But greats like Bonnie Raitt, John Mayall, Eric Clapton, The Who, The Clash, and Van Morrison love to cover his songs as much for the wry, quirky lyrics as the music. With titles like Your Molecular Structure, Middle Class White Boy, Your Mind is on Vacation, Parchman Farm, Seventh Son, Certified Senior Citizen, Everybody’s Crying Mercy, it isn’t difficult to figure out why. He is famous for his razor-sharp hooks and realismo humor.

Do yourself a favor and check out this remarkable musician. He is the best thing to come out of the Deep South since William Faulkner. I wrote that last line, then checked out some sites. I found two citations that referred to him as “the William Faulkner of jazz.” Guess they heard the same thing I did.

POSTED IN: Blues, Classical, Listening Lessons, Piano, Vocal, jazz, music history, musicology