Mose Allison was born in the Mississippi Delta near the village of Tippo.

At five he discovered he could play the piano by ear and began “picking out” blues and boogie woogie tunes he heard on the local jukebox. His father, a piano stride player himself, encouraged the young Mose in his playing but also taught him the meaning of “work on the farm”. In high school he listened to the music of Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Louis Jordan, and his prime inspiration, Nat Cole of the King Cole Trio.

He studied for a year at the University of Mississippi and later at Louisiana State University where he graduated in 1952 with a BA in English and Philosophy.

He worked in nightclubs throughout the Southeast and West, blending the raw blues of his childhood with the modern pianistic influences of John Lewis, Thelonius Monk and Al Haig.

Arriving in New York in 1956, Mose received encouragement, work and a record date from Al Cohn. In 1957 he secured his own first recording contract with Prestige Records, recording Back Country Suite, a collection of pieces evoking the Mississippi Delta. His vocal style was influenced by blues singers Percy Mayfield and Charles Brown.

Mose went on to play and record with jazz greats Stan Getz, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims and Gerry Mulligan as well as with his own Mose Allison Trio.


Mose Allison died in his home in South Carolina on November 15, 2016.

M o s e

On January 14, 2013, Allison was honored as a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts at a ceremony at Lincoln Center in New York. The NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship is the nation's highest honor in jazz.

Mose Sr, his dad, learned to play stride piano by watching the keys go up and down on a player piano.