News

Mose Allison, whose new Joe Henry produced album The Way of the World will be released an Anti Records this March 23rd has just announced a string of selected live performances in the following weeks. The record is Allison's first in twelve years after swearing off formal recording. It was Grammy winning producer Henry who finally lured the inimitable musician back into the studio. "I became fairly obsessed with the notion that Mose might yet have something more to tell us," Henry explains. "And so I embarked on an old-fashioned letter writing campaign by way of lobbying his participation."

When the two eventually teamed up in Henry's California studio, Allison found his most sympathetic setting in years, surrounded by young, vibrant players, who added a surprising slide guitar and some sinewy saxophone to the classic Mose sound; The Way of the World also features Mose' first-ever duet with his daughter, singer Amy Allison. Yet this album is all Mose, from the solo song "Modest Proposal," a sly scalpel taken to organized religion, to the modernist, Monkish changes he takes the band through on the lone instrumental, "Crush."

The brilliant Mississippi born Allison has long been referred to as the "William Faulkner of jazz" and is renowned for his profound influence on musical luminaries including The Rolling Stones, The Who, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello and more. Ray Davies of the Kinks said of Allison, "When I discovered Mose Allison I felt I had discovered the missing link between jazz and blues" and the New Yorker Magazine pronounced Allison "nothing less than a National Treasure."

Mose Allison live dates:

January 7, 8 & 9, Blues Alley, Washington, D.C January 15, California State University, Bakersfield, CA. January 16 & 17, Largo at the Coronet Theater, Los Angeles, CA January 18, Kuumba Santa Cruz, CA. February 4-7, Jazz Showcase, Chicago, Il February 26, Tempe Center for the Arts, Tempe AZ