Happy Birthday, Mose Allison

Jazz singer and pianist Mose Allison was born on November 11, 1927, in Tippo, Mississippi. He turns 85 today.

Allison has, as Forrest Dylan Bryant put it in a review at All About Jazz, a "melting-pot piano style, which seamlessly combines the sounds of back country and big city; [a] carefree, everyman way of singing; [and a] sly cynicism."

In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends Allison's Seventh Son (Prestige), but that album is only available in vinyl. Jim Determan recommends Greatest Hits (Original Jazz Classics) and The Best of Mose Allison (Atlantic) as alternatives.

• Seventh Son (Prestige). Purchase the vinyl record at Amazon.com.)
  
• Greatest Hits (Original Jazz Classics). Purchase the CD at Barnes & Noble.)
  
• The Best of Mose Allison (Atlantic). Purchase the CD at Barnes & Noble.)
  

Allison sings "Your Mind Is on Vacation" here:

Robert
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