Mose Allison
By Seth Rogovoy

(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass., April 24, 2001) - Mose Allison's songs have been recorded by everyone from the Who to Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, the Yardbirds, the Clash and Van Morrison. From the point of view of the 73-year-old singer/pianist, it all goes back to their shared musical roots.

"It all comes from the blues and jazz, classic jazz and country blues," said Allison, who performs tomorrow night at Club Helsinki, in a recent phone interview from Hilton Head, S.C. "That's where I started out, that's my basic orientation, and that's what they're all interested in."

Allison started out on his grandfather's farm outside Tippo, a small village inside the eastern rim of the Mississippi Delta, 30 miles southeast of Clarksdale. He began playing piano at age five, and absorbed the sounds of local blues players as well as the recordings of Louis Armostrong, Fats Waller, Louis Jordan and Nat King Cole.

Those influences can be heard throughout Allison's work, albeit filtered through his own idiosyncratic style which effortlessly combines blues phrasing and jazz swing.

Allison credits his influences, most of whom were both musicians and vocalists, for teaching him to swing like a musician when he sings. "The classic jazz men who sang were my early heroes, people like Louie Armstrong, Fats Waller, Nat King Cole and Louis Jordan," said Allison. "They all played well and sang. Jack Teagarden was another one. They all had singing styles and were all great instrumentalists, so I figured, what the hell, why not me?" Allison's influences go beyond American blues and jazz, however. The melodies for several of his songs, including "Numbers on Paper," are based on Hungarian folk tunes.

Allison said he is drawn to Hungarian folk music, popularized by Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly, for its similarities to the blues. He points out that both the blues and Hungarian folk were the music of rural agricultural societies. "It's like the blues in the feeling," he said. "It's folk music and contains folk wisdom." Allison is also a master of the concise couplet, also borrowed from the blues. "I'm in crusie control/I'm sailing on the highway," he sings on the song "Cruise Control."

"I'm always trying to be direct and economical," said Allison. "The fewer words the better. If you can just pick the right words, that's all you need." But Allison feels that the care he takes with his lyrics isn't always appreciated.

"I'm still waiting for people to really listen to the songs and pick up on all the inferences," he said. "I went to a lot of trouble to put in there. A lot of it just goes right by them on a superficial level. We're all waiting for somebody who's really into it to listen to it all."

The latest in the long line of soul-jazz trios to grace the stage at Club Helsinki comes by tonight when the Bellingham, Wash. -based Patiokings perform. The group boasts a classic organ-bass-drums lineup, supplemented with saxophone on its funky CD, My Friends and I. Lead vocalist Kjell Ostlund's tenor is a cross between G. Love and Stevie Wonder, and his Fender Rhodes piano could have been borrowed from Steely Dan's Donald Fagen. Ray Charles and Medeski, Martin and Wood are other obvious influences on Patiokings music, which ranges from classic soul-funk jams to contemporary, hip-hop-laced funk.

Also coming to Helsinki in the next week is blues singer/storyteller Guy Davis, performing next Thursday, May 3.

A veritable post-Lilith Fair festival of women singer-songwriters takes place tomorrow at Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, when the first of what's projected to be an annual W.A.M. (Women and Music) Festival www.wamfest.com debuts. The day-long festival will include performances by Catie Curtis, Melissa Ferrick, Erica Wheeler, Toshi Reagon, Antigone Rising, Erin McKeown, Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem, Kim Zombik and the Berkshires' own Meg Hutchinson, among others.

[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on April 27, 2001. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 2001. All rights reserved.]