NEW YORK — Mose Allison, a pianist and singer whose witty, southern-accented lyrics delivered over a backdrop of boogie-woogie blues and jazz piano won fans and influenced musicians across a wide spectrum, died Tuesday of natural causes. He was 89.
His wife, Audre Allison, confirmed his death to The Associated Press.
Heavily influenced by jazz and by the blues he grew up listening to deep in the Mississippi Delta region Allison’ had a hard style to define: too blue to be jazz, too jazz to be blues, with a little bit of country thrown in for good measure.
Born Nov. 11, 1927 in Tippo, Mississippi, Allison picked cotton and worked the fields at a young age, but started taking piano lessons in the first grade.
