Mose Allison Is Gone

Mose Allison has died at the age of 89. A Mississippi pianist, singer, composer, songwriter and sometime trumpeter, Allison made his New York debut in the 1950s as a bebop pianist. He worked with Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Gerry Mulligan and a variety of other post-bop musicians, but came to fame employing his Mississippi folksiness and command of the blues idiom. He led trios in that genre for most of his career. His work had a powerful effect on such emerging British R&B and rock performers as John Mayall and Georgie Fame, but Allison avoided rock and its offshoots. He attracted an audience devoted to his blues feeling and the wryness and irony of his lyrics. “Your Mind Is On Vacation” was one of his great successes. Here, he sings it in a 1975 PBS television broadcast, with bassist Jack Hannah and drummer Jerry Granelli. Sorry about a few unavoidable audio dropouts; they are part of the YouTube package.