Allison Rimm

Mose Allison, one of the top lyricists of the '90s, shows throughout this entertaining CD that his powers as a pianist and singer are also very much intact. The album introduces a few new classics in "Certified Senior Citizen," "This Ain't Me" and "Who's in, Who's Out." His voice is still in prime form and his piano playing remains quite unique. It is true that the guests on the set (guitarist John Scofield, altoist Joe Lovano, Bob Malach on tenor and trumpeter Randy Brecker) are not all that necessary but Allison's performance makes this an excellent showcase for his music.

Mose Allison - My Backyard (1990) {Blue Note CDP 7 93840 2 rec 1989}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 269 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 103 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 9 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1990 Blue Note | CDP 7 93840 2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Jazz Blues / Piano

Mose Allison's career in his golden and quite fruitful years has yielded many surprises and challenges, not the least of which is this delightful offering. He continues to write attractive, bouncy, and fun tunes carried by his signature roiling piano style and sly lyrics. For this effort, producer and Allison disciple Ben Sidran hooked him up with musicians from the modern New Orleans jazz scene, including Astral Project members – the extraordinary drummer John Vidacovich, tenor saxophonist Tony Dagradi, and guitarist Steve Masakowski.

More than a few musicologists have noted the parallels between hip-hop and the blues – both involve first-rate storytelling, both can be sexually candid, and both have been known to use dark humor. But there is one major difference between hip-hop and the blues: while hip-hop is extremely youth-driven, the blues world is a lot more receptive to people who are 30 and over. Blues fans realize that someone might have more to say at 35 than he/she did at 20; consequently, blues artists are encouraged to grow and develop, which is a good thing for someone like Bernard Allison. The singer/guitarist showed promise all along, but Kentucky Fried Blues finds a thirtysomething Allison continuing to grow as an artist. This CD isn't called Kentucky Fried Blues because Allison is from Kentucky – Allison gets most of his electric blues inspiration from Chicago and Texas.

The Mose Allison installment in Atlantic's Jazz Anthology series of 1970 is superior to most in that line simply on the grounds of time. Since Allison's songs were usually brief, Atlantic was able to fit 12 of them onto a single LP and thus provide a wider selection of his output, unlike others in that series that included only five or six tracks, making it serve as a pretty good capsule introduction to one of American music's most idiosyncratic individualists. Many of his most famous songs are here – "Your Mind Is on Vacation," "New Parchman," "I'm the Wild Man," "I Don't Worry About a Thing," and "Your Molecular Structure," along with covers like "Rollin' Stone" and a rushed live remake of his biggest "hit," Willie Dixon's "Seventh Son".

Allison was a major star in blues America when he was cut down by lung cancer and brain tumors in August 1997. But for a long time before celebrity caught up with him, the exciting guitarist was far better-known in Europe than in this United States. This French session dates from 1977, when the 38-year-old Chicago bluesman first earned standing ovations from European crowds and began contemplating his eventual move to Paris. Unlike his high-energy recordings in the '90s, Allison is in a relaxed mood throughout the program here, modulating his pointed expressions of heartbreak on blues standards (Little Walter's "Last Night" and Big Bill Broonzy's "Key to the Highway," to name two) and on originals (the title track and "It's Too Late"). Three tracks, all good, are added for CD reissue. On this memorable session, pianist-organist Sid Wingfield and a rhythm section capably back up the main man.

The very thing that made Luther Allison noteworthy became an albatross around his neck. Years after his initial run of records in the '70s, he was known for the same thing he was at the time – he was the only blues artist on Gordy, or any Motown affiliated label. This was true and novel, but many focused on the novelty, not the truth, ignoring Allison's status as a terrific torchbearer of raw Chicago blues. Some of material illustrates some contemporary influence – dig that funky groove and organ on "Raggedy and Dirty," or the rock-oriented slow burn of Mel London's "Cut You A-Loose" – but as his original title track illustrates, he can also deliver a torturous, impassioned slow grind. Still, this isn't an album about originality, it's a record how tradition can remain alive in a contemporary setting. Apart from the slightly cleaner production and the extended running time, this could have been released 15 years earlier, since its heart is in classic Chicago blues, particularly Chess. He draws on Willie Dixon via Howlin' Wolf for the first two tracks, dipping into Elmore James and B.B. King's catalogs later on in the record.