V/A - Mose Allison: If You're Going To the City (2 LPs)

Born in 1927 in the Mississippi Delta, Mose John Allison grew up listening to jazz and blues greats such as Louis Armstrong, Memphis Minnie, Duke Ellington, Louis Jordan and the Nat Cole Trio. He learned to play piano and trumpet as a boy. After a stint in the army and then several years playing in clubs around the South, he moved to New York City to make his career as a pianist, songwriter, and performer fronting his own trio.

Allison performed with jazz greats such as Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, and Gerry Mulligan, and developed a distinctive style of playing that fused blues and jazz with succinct and timeless lyrics. The pianist and composer als heavily influenced rock artists like Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Tom Waits, the Yardbirds, John Mayall, J.J. Cale and the Who. Allison passed away in 2016 at the age of 89.

Mose Allison’s singular style - a unique blend of jazz and blues, his incisive humor, and knack for distilling deep themes into simple potent lyrics made him a major influence on a generation of musicians. It didn’t take much convincing for the producers to bring a host of top artists onboard, including Elvis Costello, Iggy Pop, Fiona Apple, Taj Mahal, Chrissie Hynde, Richard Thompson, Ben Harper, Frank Black, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Loudon Wainwright III and more. Each artist chose a favorite Mose Allison song to interpret. The LP packaging will include a DVD copy of Paul Bernay’s 2005 documentary on Mose Allison titled ‘Ever Since I Stole The Blues’, originally produced for the BBC.

Tracks on Album:
01. Taj Mahal - Your Mind Is On Vacation
02. Robbie Fulks - My Brain
03. Jackson Browne - If You Live
04. Fiona Apple & The Tippo Allstars - Your Molecular Structure
05. Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite - Nightclub
06. Chrissie Hynde - Stop This World
07. Iggy Pop - If You’re Going to the City
08. Bonnie Raitt - Everybody’s Crying Mercy
09. Loudon Wainwright III - Ever Since the World Ended
10. Richard Thompson - Parchman Farm
11. Peter Case - I Don’t Worry About A Thing
12. Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin - Wild Man on the Loose
13. Anything Mose! - The Way of the World
14. Frank Black - Numbers on Paper
15. Amy Allison & Elvis Costello - Monsters of the Id
Genre: Jazz