Album Review: Mose Allison – Live 1978

Mose Allison is better known among may listeners as the composer of songs made famous by others. The Who memorably covered his “Young Man Blues” on their landmark live album Live at Leeds, and godfather of the British blues John Mayall covered “Parchman Farm.” Many other artists drew upon Allison’s body of work for material as well.

But the American jazz/blues pianist created a massive body of work on his own, leafing trios, quintets, sextets and playing solo on myriad releases between 1957 and 2010 (he passed away in 2016). Over the years there have been at least a dozen compilations surveying his work; 2021’s exhaustive The Complete Atlantic/Elektra Albums 1962-1983 brought together a dozen studio and live albums on six CDs.

With regard to studio work, Allison was less busy than usual toward the end of the 1970s. At that point his trio featured bassist tom Rutley and Jerry Granelli on drums. Fortunately, that group was captured live at Keystone Korner in San Francisco, and the recording was released on a small label as Pure Mose nearly two decades later. The label – New York-based 32 Records – ceased operations a few years after, and Pure Mose disappeared. Now Liberation Hall has rescued the recording from obscurity with a reissue on CD and vinyl.

Bearing the accurate (if admittedly uninspired) title Live 1978, the Liberation Hall release features all 13 tracks from the original CD release. The album documents an intimate set that has been well- recorded, with Allison’s voice well out front and the instruments captured in all their acoustic glory. As Allison alternates between vocal with accompaniment and expressive soling, he’s backed by keening uright bass and subtle but dexterous percussion. The program runs fron sultry blues “Lost Mind” to unhinged barrelhouse playing (“Wildman on the Loose”) to sly wordplay with complex instrumental runs (“Your Molecular Structure,” on which the musicians all let loose) to swingin’, good-time blues (“It Feels so Good,” “Swingin’ Machine”) and on and on.

Nearly all of the tunes are Allison originals, and when he slips in a cover (like “Hey Good Lookin’”) he makes the song feel as if he wrote it. The audience is reverent and appreciative, keeping quiet during the songs and then rewarding each with the applause it deserves. Listeners new to Allison’s original recordings are advised to sample the driving “Seventh Son” for a taste, and once won over by its astounding instrumentation and rollicking charms, proceed directly to the entirety of Live 1978.