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Review: At 82 Mose Allison Sings Like a Sage

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Mose Allison, “The Way Of The World" (Anti-)
At age 82, Mose Allison is not about to change. He's still an unclassifiable classicist who would find a single musical genre as confining as being limited to one octave on his piano.


And so he bridges the divides between the blues, pop and jazz on “The Way Of The World," his first studio album in 12 years. The common denominator on the 12 cuts is the joy with which Allison tackles the task, humming like a child when not singing like a sage. And he has never played better.

An antecedent to acts ranging from The Who to Tom Waits, Allison had quit making records when producer Joe Henry coaxed him back into the studio for this inspired performance, recorded in just five days with a small, stellar supporting cast. Allison had a hand in writing much of the material, and it's first-rate, as are the covers. He takes on organized religion ("Modest Proposal"), sings of jogging and flossing ("I'm Alright") and negotiates knuckle-busting chord changes on the lone instrumental ("Crush"). The final song is the duet “This New Situation," and the daunting task of harmonizing with Mose Allison falls to his daughter, Amy, who handles the job beautifully.

Is it possible an octogenarian has made the year's best record? Yes.

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