Blues and jazz pianist Mose Allison has died at the age of 89.
The news was confirmed to Rolling Stone by his daughter Amy, who said he had passed away from natural causes.
Allison was on November 11, 1927, in Tippo, Mississippi, and began playing piano behind a local filling station. After serving in the US Army, Allison relocated to New York where he met fellow musicians and played with artists including Stan Getz and Zoot Sims.
Allison issued his debut album Black Country Suite in 1956 via Prestige Records, with his piano style influenced by Delta blues but also intertwined with “rustic sensibility with bebop-oriented improvisations” according to NPR.
His work was covered by a wide range of artists including The Who, Van Morrison, Yardbirds, The Clash, Elvis Costello, Robert Palmer, Bonnie Raitt and the late Leon Russell, while Pixies song Allison was written about the musician.
Allison’s final album was 2015’s Mose Allison American Legend, Live in California.
In a joint 1990 interview, Morrison said: “I followed Mose’s career. I heard a lot of records and I saw a lot of gigs and I realised that he was a philosopher. He’s a musician, but he’s also a philosopher.”
Allison is survived by his son and three daughters.
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