Best of Mose Allison

by Mose Allison

Product Description:

Includes liner notes by Ira Gitler.

Mose Allison has built a career on being a white singer sounding like a black man trying to sound like a white singer; his forte is intelligent, witty lyrics sung to a small group accompaniment and cool school arrangements. Interestingly, the British '60s R&B singer Georgie Fame adopted Allison as a major influence, thus confusing the cross-pollination chain even further.

From the fatalistic-yet-playful "I Don't Worry About a Thing," through the acerbic "Your Mind is on Vacation" ("and your mouth is working overtime"), written as a witty put-down to yakking club patrons the world over, to "Your Molecular Structure," (to which accompaniment many a Martini has presumably been sipped), these songs reflect the unique, laid-back yet whip-smart sensibility of his Tippo, Mississippi home town. The musicians, later including the likes of Billy Cobham, David Sanborn, and Chuck Rainey, swing, but never overbearingly; the songs, and the voice, are pure gold.