Local Color

Product Description:

Personnel: Mose Allison (piano); Addison Farmer (bass); Nick Stabulas (drums).

Recorded in Hackensack, New Jersey on November 8, 1957. Includes liner notes by Ira Gitler.

Digitally remastered by Phil De Lancie (1990, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California).

Originally released on Prestige (7121).

LOCAL COLOR is a revealing glimpse into Mose Allison's early days; the pianist/vocalist here runs through some bluesy ballads and a few mid-tempo swing numbers in a traditional trio setting. For the most part, Allison keeps it simple within a piano/bass/drums format, where he can execute a swinging solo such as on Duke Ellington's "Don't Ever Say Goodbye," or his own "Ain't You a Mess."

Allison keeps it casual and swinging throughout. He employs his distinctly Southern vocal style on the gutbucket blues "Parchman Farm" and the New Orleans-flavored blues ballad "Lost Mind," and even pulls out his muted trumpet for "Trouble In Mind," a smoky ballad that would have made Miles Davis take note. For more recent fans of the Mississippi jazzman, these and the other songs featured on LOCAL COLOR are plentiful reasons to explore the distant past of this musical legend.