Search - Mose Allison :: Best of

Great Introduction to Classic Jazz Pianist / Performer

B. Marold | Bethlehem, PA United States | 09/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"'The Best of Mose Allison' is a re-release of a vinyl album with 8 'bonus tracks' added to the CD edition of the title. But, if you buy this, you want it for all the original, classic tracks such as 'Stop This World', 'New Parchman', 'Seventh Son', and 'Your Molecular Structure'.



I confess this review is primarily for those who are not familiar with Mose Allison and not for those Jazz audiophiles who dote on great audio quality.



Allison, to me, seems like a true immortal of Jazz, as I saw him perform at a small Jazz club in Baltimore in 1970, and he is still performing today, (or at least within the last year) with about the same quality as I remember from 35 years ago.



Allison sings and accompanys himself on the piano and strikes me as the godfather of many more recent performer / composers such as Elton John and Randy Newman. He is one of the few pre-Rock era composers whose songs have been performed by some of the great Rock supergroups such as The Who. And, when you listen to this CD, you can wish that the modern musical ethos was a little less committed to composing all your material and just a little more about performing a few 'standards' now and again.



This is just the kind of CD you need to get a good sense of Mose Allison's work.



Recommended."