Mose Allison

Singer and pianist Mose Allison was equally celebrated as a musician and a singer/songwriter, which was far from the norm for jazz musicians of his generation. Born in Tippo, Mississippi Allison grew up loving the blues and the sound became a building block for his style, which blended deep blues with bebop and cool jazz influences. Allison hit New York City in 1956, but ironically ended up playing with the cream of the West coast cool school, like Gerry Mulligan, Zoot Sims, and Al Cohn. The following year he released his debut album, Back Country Suite. Despite his eventual renown as a lyricist, Allison rarely sang his own songs on his early albums, and didn't sing much at all for that matter. His first batch of records are dominated by instrumentals displaying his visceral, serpentine piano work. It wasn't until he started recording for Atlantic in the early '60s that Allison started singing his own material on a regular basis. But once he did, his black humor and, eventually, his gift for sharp sociopolitical critique, made him beloved well outside the jazz realm. In fact, he was an influence on '60s rockers like The Who (who covered Allison's "Young Man Blues" on their classic Live at Leeds album) and Jimi Hendrix. Allison was also a gifted interpreter capable of completely recasting a tune with his bluesy, laconic vocals and knotty piano style. In 1968 he famously reinvented the ostensibly perky country song "You Are My Sunshine" as a deep, dark jazz/blues doom stomp. Allison continued recording at least every few years into the '90s, but his final release, 2010's Joe Henry-produced The Way of the World was his first album of new material in a dozen years. Subsequently, Allison-who had been on the road for the bulk of his life-retired from professional life. He passed away on November 15, 1927 in Hilton Head, South Carolina at the age of 89.