The Way of the World (album)

From the liner notes by Joe Henry:

It took me nearly a full year to persuade the man into my basement studio, since he's long ago sworn off formal recording. But Mose [Allison] is a gentleman and a soft touch -- and I, like a dog with an old shoe, had an idea I wouldn't let go of. After having spent four days in his company at a festival in Germany in the late summer of 2008, I became fairly obsessed with the notion that Mose, at 82, might yet have something more to tell us. And so I embarked on an old-fashioned letter writing campaign by way of lobbying his participation, but with a modern twist: I would email his patient, dear wife Audre, and she would print out my rambling text for Mose to read between tour runs and the late innings of baseball games.... But though he may have been initially reluctant to my advances, once we were together and fully engaging the process it all seemed as playful and natural to him as a swim in a river.... Mose even took a rare spin in waltz time on a song by his daughter, the singer-songwriter Amy Allison, and then the two breezed through a duet on an old standard to bring down the final curtain -- something I'm not sure has ever happened on a Mose Allison record before. Given his inventive and singular style of phrasing, it would likely take a blood relative to be his vocal shadow.^[1]

Per Allmusic.com: "At 82, Allison is as smart, cagey, and inventive as ever. All but one of these cuts feature his weathered but still wiry dry baritone voice that exudes a trademark jazz singer cum beat poet’s phrasing. For anyone who’s seen him in the last decade -- or heard his jaw-dropping Live in London recordings -- his keyboard skills are sharp as an Argentine stiletto.... The Way of the World is not a comeback album; Henry had a nagging suspicion that Allison might have something new to say and Allison obliged. In the process they created a gem of an album that proves the pianist and songwriter still has many tricks up his elegantly tailored, eternally hip sleeve."^[2]

Track listing

All compositions by Mose Allison except as indicated.

1. "My Brain" - 2:59
2. "I Know You Didn't Mean It" - 3:28
3. "Everybody Thinks You're an Angel" (Amy Allison) - 2:58
4. "Let It Come Down" - 2:31
5. "Modest Proposal" - 2:29
6. "Crush" - 2:55
7. "Some Right, Some Wrong" (Roosevelt Sykes) - 2:487
8. "The Way of the World" (Mose Allison, Joe Henry) - 2:50
9. "Ask Me Nice" - 3:19
10. "Once in a While" (Bud Green) - 3:32
11. "I'm Alright" (Loudon Wainwright III) - 3:11
12. "This New Situation" (Buddy Johnson) - 2:08

Personnel

• Mose Allison - piano, vocals
• Amy Allison - vocals on 12
• Jay Bellerose - drums, percussion
• Greg Leisz - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, Weissenborn, and mandola
• David Piltch - upright bass
• Walter Smith III - tenor saxophone
• Anthony Wilson - electric guitar

References