A Must Have: Allison Wonderland: The Mose Allison Anthology

...I'd written a tribute article to Charlie "Bird" Parker in Rhino's R-zine back in August giving props where propers were due...I was cutting in the crib last night and slapped on Mose Allison's Anthology Allison Wonderland-- The Mose Allison Anthology and got blown away...again...I remember the first time I heard "Back Country Suite: Blues (aka "Young Man's Blues) in that dark-ass film Permanent Midnight (a film adapted from the autobio of the writer Jerry Stahl)...the tune spoke to me from Allison's first plaintive gripe: "Well, a young man...ain't nothing in this world today" and then rolls in with a striding jazz piano that saunters along to the swing...blinding...I was like "who is this and why don't I have any of his LPs?...(this was years before the inception of iPods so I was hard pressed to find the tune and I didn't see the film's credits...ouch...flash forward a couple of years later and I'm working on a data project at rhino and am assigned some jazz artists to research and write about and Allison's anthology was at the bottom of the pile so, it was a month or so later before I got to it but when I did, I had an eyes-rolled-over-white musical woody...I'd found him!

...Allison Wonderland begins with "Back Country Suite" and is followed by some of my all-time, Championship Vinyl, Desert Island piano jazz tracks...my faves include the bouncy "Parchman Farm" (featuring a superb solo by Mose during the bridge); "Fools Paradise" (great for those moments of self doubt that we all endure); the swinging "Back On the Corner" (also good for those whoops, I fugged up again moments); "Meet Me At No Special Place" (one of my top 5, talk to the hand; I'm over you, cut)...other cuts to check are Read the rest here