The Way of the World

It’s a sign of how strange the music world has become when legendary blues and jazz singer Mose Allison records his first album in twelve years with singer-songwriter Joe Henry, at the production center, and the album is then released by an alternative label that’s become home to many other musical iconoclasts. Allison’s be-bop sensibilities can be heard throughout the staccato piano notes and his own light and airy delivery. The originals include “My Brain,” a rewrite of Willie Dixon’s “My Babe,” the swooning old world feel of “Everybody Thinks You’re an Angel” and “I Know You Didn’t Mean It,” where Allison clinks the piano notes with his unorthodox pounce intact. He phrases to perfection on the bumpy ride of “Let It Come Down” and he interprets Loudon Wainwright III’s “I’m Alright” and Buddy Johnson’s WWII-era “This New Situation” with his own personal authority. The piano instrumental “Crush” is an off-kilter bug-out that turns into a mighty chase at the keyboard.