Mose Allison

Mose John Allison, Jr. (born November 11, 1927, Tippo, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi) is an American jazz blues pianist and singer.

Allison played piano in grammar school and trumpet in high school. He went to college at the University of Mississippi for a while, then enlisted in the U.S. Army for two years. Fresh out of the Army, he enrolled at Louisiana State University, from which he was graduated in 1952 with a BA in English with a minor in Philosophy. It was at that point that he moved to New York City and launched his jazz career performing with artists such as Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, and Phil Woods. His debut album, Back Country Suite was issued on the Prestige label in 1957. He formed his own trio in 1958.

It was not until 1963 that his record label allowed him to release an album entirely of vocals. Titled "Mose Allison Sings, it was an inspired collection of songs that paid tribute to artists of the Mojo Triangle: Sonny Boy Williamson ("Eyesight to the Blind"), Jimmie Rodgers ("That's All Right") and Willie Dixon ("The Seventh Son"). However, it was an original composition in the album that 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 because some critics felt it was politically incorrect. Explained Allison to Nine-O-One Network Magazine: "I don't do the cotton sack songs much anymore. You go to the Mississippi Delta and there are no cotton sacks. It's all machines and chemicals.".

His music has 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 used it to open their original Live at Leeds album), and Georgie Fame.[citation needed] Blue Cheer also recorded a version of his song "Parchman Farm" on their debut album. The Yardbirds and The Misunderstood both recorded versions of his song "I'm Not Talking".

His song "Look Here" was covered by The Clash on their album Sandinista!. Leon Russell covered Allison's song "Smashed!" on his album Stop All That Jazz. Van Morrison released an album of his songs entitled Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison, and Elvis Costello recorded "Everybody's Cryin' Mercy" on his album Kojak Variety and "Your Mind Is On Vacation" on King of America (Bonus Tracks). Frank Black of the Pixies claims that the song "Allison" off the album Bossanova is about Mose Allison.
He also states this at the beginning of the video for the song. His song "Monsters of the Id" was recorded by Stan Ridgway on his 2004 album Snakebite: Blacktop Ballads And Fugitive Songs.

The film The Whole Nine Yards begins with Mose 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" on his 1997 album, Slant 6 Mind. Alternative rock band Pixies wrote the song "Allison" as a tribute to Mose Allison.

Allison was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006.
Allison has stated over the past few years that he would not be recording any new albums, but as of March 1, 2010, his website declared that his "new album, 'The Way of the World,' arrives March 23, 2010, marking his return to the recording studio after a 12-year absence."



Mose John Allison Jnr. (Tippo, Massachussets, 11 de noviembre de 1927), conocido como Mose Allison, es un pianista, cantante y compositor estadounidense de jazz.

Su estilo pianístico oscila entre los convencionalismos del boogie woogie y bebop, y la innovación del blues y el hard-bop. Como compositor (reconocido especialmente por sus composiciones blusísticas), sus canciones han sido grabadas por músicos como the Who ("Young Man Blues"), Leon Russell ("I'm Smashed"), Bonnie Raitt ("Everybody's Cryin' Mercy") y Jorge Drexler («I don't worry about a thing»). Es admirado por Tom Waits, John Mayall, Georgie Fame, the Rolling Stones y Van Morrison.
Sus primeros contactos con el blues fueron a través de los discos de Louis Jordan, con temas como "Outskirts of Town" y "Pinetop Blues." Allison ha asegurado que Jordan es su principal influencia, además de Nat "King" Cole, Louis Armstrong y Fats Waller.

Comenzó tocando la trompeta pero más tarde se cambió al piano. En su juventud, tuvo fácil acceso a través de la radio a la música de Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons y Meade "Lux" Lewis. Allison ha reconocido también al compositor Percy Mayfield, "the Poet Laureate of the Blues", como una de las principales influencias en su faceta como compositor.
Tras una etapa en la universidad y en el ejército, el primer trabajo profesional de Allison tuvo lugar en Lake Charles (Los Ángeles) en 1950. Regresó a la universidad para terminar sus estudios en la Universidad del Estado de Louisiana en Baton Rouge, donde estudió inglés y filosofía, muy lejos de sus intereses iniciales en ingeniería química.

Allison comenzó su carrera discográfica con el sello Prestige, en 1956, muy poco después de haberse trasladado a Nueva York. Grabó un álbum con Al Cohn y Bobby Brookmeyer, y en 1957 consiguió su propio contrato de grabación. Un gran momento fue su oportunidad de tocar con Cohn y Zoot Sims poco después de llegar a la ciudad, aunque más tarde sería conocido por haber tocado con el saxofonista Stan Getz. Tras dejar Prestige Records, donde grabó discos clásicos como Back Country Suite (1957), Young Man Mose (1958) y Seventh Son (1958-1959), firmó por Columbia Records para dos años antes de encontrarse con Nesuhi Ertegun de Atlantic Records, compañía con la que pasaría la mayor parte de su carrera. Allison también ha grabado para Columbia (antes de su etapa con Atlantic) y con los sellos Epic y Prestige.