I'm not much of a jazzbo, but Mose was really something else, including a gigantic influence on the British Invasion via songs like these.
He was also drop dead funny.
Saw him in a hole in the wall club in Greenwich Village in the early 80s. One of the best live music experiences I've ever had.
Have I mentioned that this year continues to suck on ice?
8 comments:
2016 has to be the worst year of recent memory.
And getting worser by the minute.
Saw Mose,mid 70's, cincy, outside.
Although he was not on my musical radar, I knew his name somehow; Rolling Stone, Village Voice.
Set list was unfamiliar, but boy he could play and was engaging.
rob
Another British Invasion icon, Van Morrison, was also a huge fan of Mose's; Van (with Georgie Fame) covered "Your Mind Is On Vacation" on his 1995 album "HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOIN' ON" and I think a year or two later Van & Georgie did a whole album of Mose's songs.
J. Lag
Coincidentally, the excellent British reissue company ACE RECORDS just did a 24-track CD compilation on Mose's work with three labels - Prestige, Atlantic and Columbia/Epic - for those who want to investigate his music in greater depth.
J. Lag
When I was just a little kid, my dad bought an album called "Mose Allison Sings." It was a comp on the Prestige label. It caught my ear big time. I was taking piano lessons then. Mose Allison's stuff was way cooler than what my creepy bow tied piano teacher was assigning. And it was pretty easy to play by ear. I really loved that album. So much so that I copped it from my dad. It's still in my collection, light scratches and all. When I play it, that soft wear on the record sounds like a cozy fire crackling and warming my soul.
That record had Mose's "Young Man," and "Parchman Farm" plus covers of "Seventh Son" and "Eyesight To the Blind." It wasn't just the piano playing either, I loved his mellow voice. It was perfection.
My dad and I went to the Lighthouse a bunch of times when I was a senior in high school. I think Mose played around a month straight at the Hermosa Beach Club. We went to about five of the shows. One night we went to the Whisky a Go Go first to see Weather Report before catching Mose later. Good times. Some of the regulars thought my dad was cheating on my mom with a younger woman. Pretty funny.
Mose made it to 89. That's pretty good. And he leaves behind a nice musical legacy. So I'm really not that sad about him or Leonard. The heavenly choir just got that much better.
If you live, your time will come.
VR
I saw Mose in a number of different venues over the years, from Iridium in NYC to some basement hellhole in Redwood City, CA (with about 15 others, max). He gradually leached all the blues out of his playing, toward the end it was an odd combination of jazz and classical influences with nary a blue note to be found. But he'll always be my musical Willie Mays.
I strongly recommend a later song, "Children of the Future" - dig it on YouTube, it's incredibly fitting for the post-Trump nightmare.
Children of the Future
We know we've done you wrong
Just cause your pa's from Tennessee,
Your ma's from Tan Binh Dan.
We soon will be enlightened;
A message we'll receive
A way to live unfrightened
I truly do believe
Wow. Seriously.
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