Mose Allison - Ramblin' with Mose

[GA Russell]

I remember the first time I heard a Mose Allison record. It was October of '69. Atlantic released a series of Best of albums of their artists that month, including Charles Mingus, Charles Lloyd and Herbie Mann.

When I heard The Best of Mose Allison I was immediately captivated by his voice. I remember thinking that it sounded like how Maynard G. Krebs would sing (pacem Bob Denver).

A few months later, while browsing I found an old mono record of a Prestige album recorded in 1958 called Ramblin' with Mose. It looked like it was an original press run. It had the old black and yellow label, was very heavy, and had no flex whatever!

The album was completely different from what I had expected. Only the first track was a vocal, and the remainder was instrumental piano trio. Allison is supported by Art Farmer's brother Addison on bass and a name that I haven't seen since, Ronnie Free, on drums. Both keep it swinging with a light touch.

In the years since Mose left Prestige forty-some years ago, his instrumental tracks all seem to be the same song with different titles. But that is not the case with this album.

I haven't heard my LP in years. It's packed away somewhere among the old LPs I never play. Fantasy recently reissued Ramblin' with Mose, so I got a copy.

Four of the nine instrumentals are standards: Old Devil Moon, You Belong To Me, Stranger in Paradise and The Kissin' Bug. The remaining five are Mose originals.

None of the tracks are played in the manner Mose approaches instrumentals now, and none of his five compositions are reminiscent of the one song he plays all the time.

I was trying to think of who his playing reminds me of, and I have decided on Red Garland. His style is the make-it-sound-easy type, but a little more heavy handed than, say, Ahmad Jamal. That is why I say Red Garland. I also hear a little Vince Guaraldi, although I doubt that Guaraldi was an influence.

Is anyone else here familiar with Mose's Prestige sides? Anybody care to disagree with the idea that he sounded like Red Garland back then?

Can anybody recommend any other Mose Allison Prestige dates?

[Chuck Nessa]

Unlike you, I think the early Prestige sides show an affinity with Herbie Nichols and other "Brooklyn brothers" (Hope nd Weston) "off kilter" concerning harmony. I was really bummed by his career course.

[GA Russell]

Chuck, I'll listen to it again with your comments in mind.

[JSngry]

Yeah, Mose's piano playing is definitely "off kilter", as Chuck puts it. The guy's a freak!

[RDK]

Love Mose Allison dearly. On many days I consider him my favorite male jazz singer - or at least wordsmith.

Glad to see this one come out. His version of "You Belong to Me" is a favorite - I have it on a British comp CD - and it was one of the few "stumpers" on my BFT way back when. I've always thought him an underrated pianist, so hopefully this will gain him some added recognition in that regard.

[jlhoots]

I still like Back Country Suite.

[mikeweil]

I only have his three Columbia discs but like these a lot. Ah, the days when each pianist was an individual .....

BTW: the third disc of the Columbias is said to have alternate versions of tunes from the first two, but I can't hear much of a difference ...

[jazzbo]

I have quite a few Atlantics and the Columbias. . . but no Prestige!

I admit it, I'm deprived!

I'll fix that eventually!

I'm a fan. Like his work as a sideman with Getz et al a lot.

[GA Russell]

I forgot to mention that the reason I bought the LP in the first place was that it was only $1.99!!

Jazzbo, I fairly often see references to the fact that Mose played with Getz, but I've never seen a Getz album with him on it. Can you recommend any that are available?

Chuck, maybe it's the power of suggestion, but I believe that I can hear some Herbie Nicholls in his left hand, now that you mention it. But I still think his touch is more like Red Garland's.

[jazzbo]

The one that pops right out at me is "The Soft Swing" which I have on a Japanese cd, which is now available as a download on Verve's "Vault" page.

He also did some great work with Al and Zoot on "You 'n Me," and "The Al Cohn Quintet featuring Zoot Sims" (Dot or Coral, a GRP cd, now out of print I think) and with Al Cohn and Brookmeyer in "The Al Cohn Quintet" (a recent Verve LP By Request).

[GA Russell]

Thanks, Lon.

It occurs to me that in addition to whatever piano date you may choose, you might be interested in a compilation of his vocal tracks Prestige issued about 1964 as Mose Allison Sings, and re-issued as an OJC as Greatest Hits.

It's avaliable from YourMusic.com here:

http://www.yourmusic.com/browse/album/22744.html

[jazzbo]

Thanks!

Added it to my queue!

[JSngry]

The 32 Jazz collection The Sage Of Tippo his first Atlantic album, Swingin' Machine, and it contains a fair amount of instrumentals that are pretty sweet. Players include Jimmy Knepper and Frankie Dunlop. That collection also includes the Wild Man On The Loose trio album with Earl May and Paul Motian, which is also ripe with fine piano playing.

Not a bad deal if you can still find it.

[GA Russell]

Thanks!

Added it to my queue!

←

And I've added The Al Cohn Quintet to mine!

[GA Russell]

I forgot to mention that the CD has three alternate take bonus tracks. The first two are quite different from the master takes, enough to give me more respect for Mose.

[GA Russell]

Unlike you, I think the early Prestige sides show an affinity with Herbie Nichols and other "Brooklyn brothers" (Hope nd Weston) "off kilter" concerning harmony. I was really bummed by his career course.

Chuck, maybe it's the power of suggestion, but I believe that I can hear some Herbie Nicholls in his left hand, now that you mention it. But I still think his touch is more like Red Garland's.

I lie prostrate humbly before thee, O Great One! I am listening to my Mosaic Herbie Nichols for the first time in a long time, and the similarity is obvious, both with the harmonies and the touch.

But wasn't Herbie Nichols too obscure to influence anybody?

[king ubu]

I'm discovering Mose (again)... had that "Greatest Hits" (now as "Mose Allison Sings" in the Prestige RVG Remasters) and "You Mind Is On Vacation" (Atlantic digipack) for a long time, as well as some sideman recordings (for instance the ones with Al & Zoot mentioned above), but now I found "High Jinks", the Columbia/Epic 3CD set, and it's brilliant!

And in one of those ZYX liquidation sales also got the marvellous "Back Country Suite". It was the stuff on "High Jinks" though, that completely won me over now...

Have the Collectables 6 albums on 4CDs set on order right now!

I'll look for "Sage of Tippo" as well, that one has 4 albums on 2CDs, and as far as I understand, only one is duplicated with the Collectables set (which I gather is just a filmsy cardboard box wrapped around four normal Collectables releases).

[Big Beat Steve]

How come it's taken so long for his BACK COUNTRY SUITE (and closely related Prestige material) to be mentioned?

I remember how Mose Allison really struck me right between the ears with the very first recording of his I ever heard on radio in the mid- to late 70s ("Parchman Farm" - in jazz show, of course). This happened not long ago after I had got my hands on an LP by the Nashville Teens that included THEIR (60s Brit beat) version of "Parchman Farm" (and introduced me to that tune). Mose Allison's had a recognizable familiarity yet was strikingly different: WTF was this: Deep-down blues singing to a modern jazz piano combo backing?? That settled Mose Allison for me as somebody who defied usual stylistic boundaries.

Haven't gone far his Prestige period but have enjoyed this immensely. He is one of those whose records I'd spin indiscriminately, regardless of whether I'm in a "modern jazz" or "blues/R&B" listening mood.

Edited June 17, 2009 by Big Beat Steve

[AllenLowe]

I've never heard him in person, not a big fan of the singing but sometimes it's interesting - I do, like Chuck, find the piano on some of those older things intriguing -

however, a friend of mine and great bassist from Connecticut, who used to work with Allison on tour in the 1980s and 1990s, told me he always got lost when playing through the changes. Sometimes that happens when too many years are spent away from certain kinds of playing -

[Tom Storer]

Has Mose put out anything new since "The Mose Chronicles," the live-in-London from seven or eight years ago?

One of my favorites is "Ever Since the World Ended" from 1987, with Arthur Blythe and Bennie Wallace providing horn solos (sample lyric: "Ever since the world ended / I don't go out as much"). Then there was the excellent "Gimcracks and Gewgaws" about a decade later, which included "Old Man's Blues," an echo of "Young Man's Blues" from 30 years earlier.

[king ubu]

I don't know, but I found one of the Chronicles in a local EMI/Blue Note sale... haven't played it yet though. Blythe and Wallace, that sounds intriguing!

"Your Mind Is On Vacation" has some nice Al Cohn!

[Shawn]

I'm a Mose Allison junkie, love the Prestige, Columbia and early Atlantic albums. I've also had the pleasure of seeing him live on a couple occasions and he put on a fantastic show.

I'll have to go back and compare some Herbie Nichols, that's an interesting thought. His piano playing always reminded me of a hipper (and slightly stoned) variation of Dave Brubeck.

[jeffcrom]

Mose Allison is one of my absolute favorite musicians. The thing is, he has so many talents that different people respond to different aspects of his music. I can certainly understand those like Chuck who regret that his career moved away from pianist/jazz composer to hip songwriter. To me, though, the most impressive aspect of his talent is his songwriting, and I don't regret his career direction at all. Some of my favorites, for both music and lyrics are "How Much "Truth," "Stop the World," "What's With You," and "Ever Since the World Ended." "Ever Since I Stole the Blues," from My Backyard, is a hilarious response to a British interviewer who asked him about his career since he "stole the blues." And I don't won't to admit how much "One of These Days," a song about how the singer is going to eventually get his act together, relates to my life. Well, not the part about hanging out with jail bait....

My Backyard is one of his 1980's/1990's albums for Blue Note. If you only know Mose's early stuff, check these out. They all have dead spots, in my opinion, but they also have some brilliant songs and great playing, along with musicians like Paul Motian, Joe Lovano, John Scofield, and Johnny Vidacovich.

And I don't really hear the pianistic influences that that some of you hear in his playing, although I see where you're coming from. To me his playing has always sounded like a bizarre combination of Sunnyland Slim and Bartok, but I really don't think he sounds like anyone but himself.

One of my favorites is "Ever Since the World Ended" from 1987, with Arthur Blythe and Bennie Wallace providing horn solos....

Mine, too. A great album - very few low points here. Another favorite from this one is "Gettin' There," his look at his career: "I'm not discouraged, but I'm gettin' there."

(Edited to correct a stupid typo that completely changed the meaning of what I was trying to say.)

Edited June 17, 2009 by jeffcrom

[kh1958]

I recall seeing him live for the first time in Austin in 1983 at what was usually a folk/coffee house type of club. I was very much enjoying the performance, but one of the patrons, who I assume was expecting the usual fare, had a rather different reaction, becoming increasingly agitated and shouting obscenities, until eventually being escorted out by the Austin police.

[AllenLowe]

"one of the patrons, who I assume was expecting the usual fare, had a rather different reaction, becoming increasingly agitated and shouting obscenities, until eventually being escorted out by the Austin police. "

wasn't Chuck living in Texas then?