“Blues”
(a taste of vintage Mose)

• James Brewer interviews Mose Allison
29 December, 2010

© Michael Wilson

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Go to the WSWS.org original

Read Ben Greenman’s New Yorker review of Mose Allison’s “late-life triumph”

Photos: Michael Wilson

Mose Allison

The “cool little cluster” that is Mose Allison’s brain

By James Brewer

World Socialist Web Site
22 November 2010

Experiencing a performance by veteran blues-jazz artist Mose Allison can be for some of us like finding a long-lost valuable. For younger listeners, discovering his music can be a cultural awakening.

I had the good fortune to experience this first-hand recently at the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe in the Detroit area—coincidentally, the day before his 83rd birthday. His message is as straight-from-the-shoulder as it has been for over five decades. He threw in tunes from his latest album, “The Way of the World,” alongside some of his oldest material. But there is nothing nostalgic about a Mose Allison performance.His music has lost little of its edge. “Everybody Cryin’ Mercy” was written in 1968. It could have been written today. Hearing Mose deliver it now is like entering a musical conversation about the current war. Which one? … Take your pick …

Click here to read the whole of journalist and film critic James Brewer’s affectionate tribute to the legendary Mississippi-born pianist-singer-composer in this review of Mose Allison’s The Way of the World.

© 2010 WSWS.org

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Mose Allison Trio performs his classic “Your Mind Is on Vacation”

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Jazz Profiles: MOSE ALLISON | produced by Ben Sidran

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© audiokarma.org

An interactive Mose Allison discography posted at his fan-based website

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The official Mose Allison website

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