Mose Allison--Blues in His Backbone

Though Mose Allison is perhaps best known for his parched-voice renditions of such songs as Willie Dixon’s “The Seventh Son,” Hank Williams’ “Hey, Good Loo” and Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” the pianist/singer has left a more indelible mark on the world of contemporary jazz as a composer whose some 100 songs often offer wry observations on modern life.

“There are some people who just go along with things, and then there others who look at life and get something out of trying to make some sort of comment about it,” the 60-year-old Allison said by phone from his home on Long Island. “I’m one of the latter.”

Allison’s comic intent--as evidenced by such lines as “Your mind is on vacation, and your mouth is working overtime,” “Everybody’s crying mercy, but nobody knows the meaning of the word” and “I’m not discouraged but I’m gettin’ there”--is not always clear to his listeners, he said.

“Some people regard me as a cynic or a downer,” Allison said in a broad drawl that betrays his Tippo, Miss., birthplace, “but I think that most of my songs are funny. Not hilarious, but slightly funny, maybe invoking a half smile,” he added chuckling.

“I see things ironically,” Allison, who opens tonight at the Vine St. Bar & Grill, went on. “I can’t avoid that. That’s just the way things are going, like, everyday, baby, you know. If the way things are going isn’t ironic, I don’t know what it is,” he said with another laugh.

Allison’s lyrics begin as phrases that keep running through his mind. “Those are the ones worth working on,” he said. “I usually write the words, and then around the shape of the words, I look for different melodies that fit that. I don’t try to do involved songs with exotic chords changes. I think that’s been done. I try to keep things simple.”

The artist, who started out playing piano at age 5 and was soon “singing the blues at home and at house parties,” said that the blues has always been at the core of what he writes and plays. “My songs are infused with the blues, the blues tone, the blues sound,” he said. “That’s where I came from, that’s what my voice and style is best suited for. Still, I’m not strictly a blues player. Most of my songs are not 12-bar blues.”

Though Allison has recorded prolifically--he’s made 20 LPs, a figure that swells to 50 when you count the reissues--he has yet to make any real money in terms of royalties, a fact he seems to take in stride. “Oh, I’ve maybe made enough to take care of my postage,” he quipped. “Really, a record for a jazz musician is nothing but an expensive business card. The only time I have made money is when someone like the Who or Bonnie Raitt has done one of my songs, but then that’s songwriter’s royalties.”

Allison says that his latest LP, “Ever Since the World Ended” (Blue Note) may change the pattern. “This is the first album that’s ever made the jazz charts,” he said.

The new disc has a theme that runs through most of the tunes. “It’s about gettin’ older,” he said. What made him pick that idea? “Gettin’ older!” he shot back, laughing. “When I feel good, I feel better than I ever have. When I feel bad, I feel like I’m going to die.”

To earn his living, Allison hits the road. He figures he works about 200 days a year, including about 50 one-nighters, in nightclubs across the country.

“I like to play, man,” he said. “I like to stay busy. That’s always been my motivation. No matter how hard it is to get to the job, and sometimes it’s a real survival test, once I get to the piano, and there’s a good bass player and drummer, I feel great.”

While Allison’s performances and recordings highlight his vocals, the man who began his career as the pianist for Stan Getz and the Al Cohn-Zoot Sims Quintet would like people to remember that he’s still a jazz pianist. “My piano playing kind of gets overlooked,” he said. “A lot of jazz purists think that if you sing, you can’t be a real jazz player, but on a given night, I play almost as much improvised jazz as you’d hear with most groups.”

One thing that pleases Allison is that his songs have had an impact on some of his listeners’ lives. “People have told me that my songs have helped them get through bad periods, so maybe they have some therapeutic element,” he said. “That’s what they’ve been for me. I’m aware of all these hassles we have getting through the day, but when I get up and play, that’s one place I’m divorced from it.”