It is almost his birthday. Mose John Allison Jr. was born November 11, 1927 in Mississippi. He would go to school, learn piano, serve in the military and finish college.
He was heavily influenced by the blues and his Mississippi upbringing but of all places, brought it to New York were he played with Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and Gerry Mulligan among others. He would get a record deal in 1957, but his label would not let him sing at all. He would not put out an all vocals album until 1963. It featured his trio doing covers of Sonny Boy Williamson, Willie Dixon and others but it was his original work that stood out. He had a hit with "Parchman Farm", which would be one of his most popular songs.
In 1962, Mose came out with "I Don't Worry About a Thing", which included "Your Mind is on Vacation." Reviewer Alan Kurtz gives us these observations:
"In the culture-clash of jazz and psychiatry, shrinks have
gotten short shrift. Mose Allison, however, plays Devil's advocate, enacting
the role of long-suffering clinician who's endured more bellyaching than even
the highly compensated can tolerate. "You're sittin' there yakkin' in my
face," declares Dr. Allison at wit's end. "I guess I'm gonna have to
put you in your place." Technically called counter-resistance, this can
seriously impair the doctor-patient relationship. But when delivered with Mose
Allison's Laid-back Sage of the Mississippi Delta aplomb and set to his funky
down-home piano, such in-your-face attitude is delectably therapeutic."
You're sitting there yakkin' right in my face
I guess I'm gonna have to put you in your place
Y'know if silence was golden
You couldn't raise a dime
Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is
Working overtime
His songs are thoughtful, yet playful at the same time. You can jut picture him sitting in a bar in the Village laying this song on the audience.
Mose, now in his 80's has well over 40 albums to his credit. He has influenced the likes of The Who, Elvis Costello and Hendrix while his songs have been covered by countless musicians.
We believe him to be one of the most talented songwriters and underrated jazzman ever.
Several staff at Monahan's Song saw Mose walk into a bar at Disney World and sit down at the piano and play ten songs. Someone who did not know it was him walked up and dropped a dollar on the piano as a tip. Mose burst out laughing...
Willie Mabon (b.1925) was a talking kind of singer with a tongue-in-cheek urban feel. He played piano and harmonica (sometimes at the same time) and at the age of 17, had moved from his native Memphis, Tennessee to Chicago. He recorded firstly as a member of the Blues Rockers. I read somewhere that his style influenced Mose Allison. I believe such a comparison makes a lot of sense.
The blog Be Bop Wino put his music this way: "Willie’s sound was different from the electric blues which was becoming the house sound of Chess at that time. His records were in a roughhouse jump blues style with riffing horns backing up hoarse vocals and pianistic pounding." All this and with with a finger missing from one of his hands.
He became popular in the Chicago area and became a popular R & B singer. He was signed to Chess Records and set his sound apart from Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf by featuring piano and sax instead of guitar and harp.
He had a hit in 1952 with a cover of "I Don't Know," a bluesy novelty song that would later be performed by the Blues Brothers on their debut first album.
"I'm Mad" was released in 1953 and made it to number one on the R & B charts that year. It is so matter of fact in it's depiction of a regretful relationship, that I have never played it for someone who has never heard it and didn't burst out laughing.
In 1980. Canadian production house International Rocketship Limited released it's first animated short called "Sing Beast, Sing." The film is an animated story corresponding to "I'm Mad" and is quite amusing. I'm including that short in this post as well.
green, round, wonderful, beautiful world
with the beautiful waters
around the curves
and everything that's, in the world
I hops up and marries me a glamor girl
I'm mad...
Mabon never regained his momentum after leaving Chess. He stopped at Federal in 1957, Mad in 1960, Formal in 1962 (where he stirred up some local sales with his leering "Got to Have Some"), and USA in 1963-64. Mabon sat out much of the late '60s but came back strong after moving to Paris in 1972, recording and touring Europe prolifically until his death.
