Mose Allison - past festival performer

was born in the Mississippi Delta on his grandfather’s farm near the village of Tippo. At five he discovered he could play the piano “by ear” and began “picking’ out” blues and boogie tunes he heard on the local jukebox. In high school he listened to the music of Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Louis Jordan, and his prime inspiration, Nat Cole of the King Cole Trio. He played trumpet in the marching and dance bands and started writing his own songs.
Mose Allison - Photo © Amy C. Elliott
After a year at the University of Mississippi, he went to the Army in l946, playing in the Army Band in Colorado Springs and performing with accomplished musicians from around the country in small groups at NCO and Officer’s clubs. Returning to “Ole Miss” he joined the dance band as arranger, piano and trumpet player, but shortly left to form his own trio, playing piano and singing in a style heavily influenced by Nat Cole, Louis Jordan and Erroll Garner. After a year on the road, Mose married, returned to college at Louisiana State University and graduated in 1952 with a BA in English and Philosophy.

He worked in nightclubs throughout the Southeast and West, blending the raw blues of his childhood with modern pianistic influences of John Lewis, Thelonius Monk and Al Haig. His vocal style was influenced by blues singers Percy Mayfield and Charles Brown. Arriving in New York in 1956, Mose received encouragement, work and a record date from Al Cohn. In 1957 he secured his own first recording contract with Prestige Records, recording Back Country Suite, a collection of pieces evoking the Mississippi Delta, released to unanimous critical acclaim. Mose went on to play and record with jazz greats Stan Getz, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims and Gerry Mulligan as well as with his own Mose Allison Trio.

Mose continued working with his own trio, writing and singing his own songs. His songs are a fusion of rustic blues and jazz, embellished with profound and often humorous lyrics. As a pianist, while admiring jazz masters Bud Powell and Lenny Tristano, he also learned from composers such as Bartok, Ives, Hindemith and Ruggles. The fusing of these diverse elements into a cohesive performance continues today. A biography, One Man’s Blues: The Life and Music of Mose Allison, written by Patti Jones, was published in 1995 by Quartet Books Ltd. Of London.

Mose continues to write and perform all over the world. His songs have been covered by Van Morrison, John Mayall, The Who, The Clash, Eric Clapton, the Yardbirds, Elvis Costello and Bonnie Raitt to name a few. Van Morrison recorded a tribute album, Tell Me Something, The Songs of Mose Allison, on Verve Records, and rockers like Pete Townshend, Bonnie Raitt, Ray Davies and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones have frequently cited Mose Allison as a major influence. During a recent London engagement, Time Out, the major entertainment weekly, praised Mose:

Mose Allison’s popularity in the UK dates from the ‘60s, when his mixture of Delta-born blues feel and his gift for writing a song with a sting in the tail made him a prime source of inspiration for the UK’s new generation of blues/rock artists. Not just namechecked but lionized by the likes of Pete Townshend, Jack Bruce, Brian Auger and Georgie Fame, he became British rock’s most popular jazz musician. His piano style is notable for its strange mixture of classical-influenced sophistication and blues-based intimacy, and there’s still none like him with a lyric.

His most recent Grammy nomination was for one of his two newest recordings, Mose Chronicles, Live in London, Vol. I on Blue Note Records. Mose Chronicles , Vol II was just released last year. Also Among recent releases are a dozen reissues on CD including Allison Wonderland and a double CD retrospective on Rhino, and High Jinks, a three CD package on Legacy. Blue Note has also re-released a collection of past recordings, Mose Allison, Jazz Profiles. His music has often been used in movies, and he can be seen performing in the recently released movie, The Score, starring Robert DeNiro and Marlon Brando.

Mose resides on Long Island with his wife Audre where they raised four children: Alissa an attorney, John a Telecommunication Specialist, Janine a psychiatrist, and Amy Allison, also a successful and respected singer songwriter in New York with her own group.

As one writer recently said: “Mose is now at the peak of his performing career. Although maybe this last statement is not quite true as he seems to continue to improve on perfection.”

Mose Allison
Album Catalog

The Al Cohn Quintet – 1956
Stan Getz Quartet – Live in 1956/57
Stan Getz Quartet: The Soft Swing – 1957
Jazz Alive! A Night at the Half Note – 1959
Al Cohn & Zoot Sims Quartet – 1960
Al Cohn & Zoot Sims Quartet: You ’N Me -1960
Mose Allison: Back Country Suite – 1957
Mose Allison: Local Color – 1957
Mose Allison: Young Man Mose - 1958
Mose Allison: Ramblin’ with Mose - 1958
Mose Allison: Creek Bank - 1958
Mose Allison: Autumn Song – 1959
Mose Allison: Tranfiguration of Hirum Brown –1959
Mose Allison: I Love the Life I live – 1960
Mose Allison: Takes to the Hills – 1961
Mose Allison: I Don’t Worry Bout a Thing – 1962
Mose Allison: Swingin’ Machine - 1963
Mose Allison: Mose Allison Sings – 1963
Mose Allison: The Word from Mose - 1964
Mose Allison: Mose Allison Alive! – 1965
Mose Allison: Wild Man on the Loose – 1965
Mose Allison: Down Home Piano – 1965
Mose Allison: Mose Allison Plays for Lovers – 1966
Mose Allison: Mose Goes – 1968
Mose Allison: Hello There Universe – 1969
Mose Allison: The Best of Mose Allison – 1970
Mose Allison: Western Man – 1971
Mose Allison: Retrospective – 1971
Mose Allison: Mose in Your Ear – 1972
Mose Allison: Seventh Son - 1973
Mose Allison: Creek Bank – 1975
Mose Allison: V-8 Ford Blues – 1966
Mose Allison: I’ve Been Doin’ some thinking – 1968
Mose Allison: Your Mind is on Vacation – 1976
Mose Allison: Middle Class White Boy – 1982
Mose Allison: Lessons In Living – 1982 Mose Allison: Ever Since the World Ended – 1987
Mose Allison: The Best of Mose Allison – 1988
Mose Allison: Greatest Hits – 1988
Mose Allison: My Backyard – 1989
Mose Allison: At His Best – 1990
Mose Allison: Sings and Plays – 1991
Mose Allison: I Don’t Worry bout a thing – 1991
Mose Allison: The Earth Wants You – 1993
Mose Allison: Pure Mose – 1994
Mose Allison: High Jinks! – 1994
Mose Allison: Allison Wonderland - 1994
Mose Allison: Middle Class White Boy – 1994
Mose Allison: Lessons In Living – 1994
Mose Allison: The Sage of Tippo
Mose Allison: Gimcracks and Gewgaws – 1998
Mose Allison: The London Chronicles Vol. 1- 2001
Mose Allison: The London Chronicles Vol. 2 – 2002
Compilations:

Hot Rods & Custom Classics
Live From the Mountain Stage Lounge
Jazz Profile
Nighttime Jazz
Smooth and Cool
Music to Install Windows 98 – Borders
Classic Jazz
Atlantic Jazz Classics
Atlantic Jazz Vocal Classics
Cocktail Mix,. Vol 2: Martini Madness
Drivin’ Blues
Essential Jazz
Great Moments in Jazz
Night Time Jazz
The Whole Nine Yards Motion Picture Soundtrack
Voices of Cool

Mose Allison Song Listing
Copyright Titles – Audre Mae Music Publishing

Ain’t You a Mess
Ask Me Nice
Autum Song
Back Country Sketches
Back Down South
Back on the Corner
Barefoot Dirt Road
Benediction
Big Brother
Cabaret Card
Carnival
Certified Senior Citizen
Children of the Future
City Home
Creekbank Suite
Crepuscular Air
Cruise Control
Cuttin’ Out
Days Like This
Devil in the Cane Field
Dinner on the Ground
Do It
Don’t Forget to Smile
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Echo
Ever Since I Stole the Blues
Ever Since the World Ended
Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy
Finale
Getting’ There
Gimcracks and Gewgaws
Gonna Hafta Move
Gotham Day
Gotham Night
Hello There Universe
High Jinks
Highway 49
Hittin’ On One
How Does it Feel
How Much Truth?
Hymn to Everything
I Don’t Love you No More
I Don’t Want Much
I Don’t Worry “Bout a Thing
I Feel So Good
I Looked in the Mirror Today
Idyll
If You Live
If You Only Knew
If You Really Loved Me
If you’re Goin’ to the City
I’m Alive
I’m Not Talkin’
Ingénue
It Didn’t Turn Out That Way
January
Jus’ Like Livin’
Kiddin’ on the Square
Let it Come Down
Local Color Suite
Long Song
Look Here
Look What You Made Me Do
Meadows
M.J.A. Jr.
Middle Class White Boy
Mockingbird
Mojo Woman
Monsters of the Id
Moon and Cypress
Mountains
Mule
My Backyard Natural Born Malcontent
Nevermore
New Ground
New Parchman
Nightclub
Nightride
Nightwatch
No Exit
No Matter
No Trouble Livin’
Now You See It
Numbers On Paper
Ole’ Man John
Old Man Blues
On The Run
One of These Days
Parchman Farm
Perfect Moments
Powerhouse
Promenade
Puttin’ Up With Me
Ramble
Renegade
Saritha
Saturday
Scamper
Sentimental Fool
I’m Smashed
Sob Story
Somebody Got to Move
Spires
Spring Song
Standby
Stop This World
Swingin’ Machine
Tai Che Life
Tell Me Something
Texanna
The Chaser
The Earth Wants You
The Fires of Spring
The Foolkiller
The Getting’ Paid Waltz
The Hills
The Minstrel
The More You Get
The News
The Path
The River
The Well
This Ain’t Me
Top Forty
Town
Train
Variation on Dixie
Warhorse
Warm Night
Was
Western Man
What a Shame
What Do You Do After…
What Will It Be?
What’s With You
What’s Your Movie
Who Am I?
Who’s In?
Wild Man on the Loose
You Can Count on Me
You Can’t Push People Around
Young Man Blues
Your Mind is on Vacation
Your Molecular Structure

Contact Us: Temecula Valley International Jazz Festival

Jon Laskin - founder / executive director (951) 678-2517 or (928) 222-3009 fax

email@musiciansworkshop.org or email@jonlaskin.com

 

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