Mose Allison

Want to define the concept of "cool" in just two words? Easy: Mose Allison. With his bluesy hepcat moan, Monk-goes-to-grad-school piano playing, and wickedly witty songs, ol' man Mose has been the black-humored poet of jazz for more than five decades. Whether he's hurling saber-toothed sarcasm at loudmouthed lunkheads on "Your Mind Is On Vacation" or making organic chemistry sound positively dirty on "Your Molecular Structure," Mose is the musical fool-killer who slays clichés and pretension with saber-sharp songcraft. And is his "Young Man's Blues" the original angry-young-man anthem? Just ask the Who — their version opens up their all-time classic Live At Leeds album, after all. Get your head turned around when Mose skews the blues to his wicked whim, in Next Steps.

When Leonard Cohen was still a pimply faced kid in hot pursuit of a prom date, Mose Allison was already unleashing wry, caustic tunes that turned blues platitudes inside out and reveled in a skewed view of the human predicament. Allison laughs in the face of fortune with a cynic's shrug and a bopper's bounce on "It Didn't Turn Out That Way." He's not afraid to turn his scathing sarcasm in his own direction, either, mocking his own blues credentials on "Middle Class White Boy." Hell, even when he wanders into a burst of bona fortuna he can't help giving it a wary glance on "Feels So Good." Uncover Mose's many personalities, from piano pounder to blues bard, in Deep Cuts.

Just who is the real Mose Allison anyway? Is he the traditionalist with a twist who wrings pathos from the peppy country standard "You Are My Sunshine" by reshaping it as a bottom-of-the-well blues? Is he an offbeat intellectual melding brainy bop and the beasts of our subconscious on "Monster of the Id?" Maybe he's a demon of the eighty-eights, burning a fleet-fingered trail across the ivories on "Devil In the Cane Field." If "all of the above" was your answer, then you're ready to graduate from Professor Mose's college of musical knowledge and soak up his whole swingin' syllabus in our Complete Set.

Mose Allison has been murmuring in the world's ear — he's way too cool to belt or croon — since the '50s. Like an existential Nat "King" Cole, he redefined blues and jazz standards with his laid-back (but far from mellow) feel, and penned some standards of his own, brimming with black humor and a quirky, cantankerous worldview. He's also the master of an angular, post-Monk piano style that remains among the most original in jazz. Incredibly, in his eighties he's still bringing a smoldering intensity to it all. Massively influential artists of the rock era cut their teeth on the tunes of Mississippi Mose, from the Who and Van Morrison to The Clash and Elvis Costello — just a few among the many who recorded classics from the Allison songbook. But you don't have to start climbing Mose's titanic tower of song by yourself — we've collected all the crucial cuts for you right here; next stop: Allison wonderland.