Caught Mose Allison last night at the Jazz Bakery (Culver City, CA) accompanied by bassist Tom Warrington (
http://www.tomwarrington.com/discogr.html ). Unfortunately Mose wasn't up to a great performance as he appeared to be suffering from a cold and/or flu making his voice more 'squeaky' than normal. He plays a version of the Delta blues that is genuine, ironic, and self deprecating and continues to practice his unique style at the advanced age of 84.
Tom Warrington was awesome in most aspects: working hard to keep pace with Mose's unsteady tempos; reading on-the-fly as Mose called out numbers from his book; soloing 'in character' with the tune - particularly a blues in Bflat that featured hard slaps and clean, crisp arpeggios; working the entire fretboard from open strings that rumbled to harmonics that highlighted his interesting walking lines.
I was struck, again, at what a nerdy bunch we are, if I can allow myself to be grouped with Tom for the editorial sake of this thread. He looks like Mr. Rogers, a tall, fit man (read slim) in what I would guess are his 60's, mustachioed, and very calm on stage. But when he soloed, or had to read a difficult passage, his face contorted like a metal guitarist video, and in these moments he would wrap his body around the instrument, bringing his face over the fretboard, totally immersed in the moment not even knowing or caring that the rather beige appearance he presented just a moment ago had been replaced by a bass monster in action.
Together they did manage to get a few tunes off, where they established a good groove and worked through nicely. Mose's voice trouble, I believe, caused him to go to blues standards including Muddy Waters and a beautiful "Don't Do Anything Until You Hear From Me".
Anyone know if Tom is a member here?
-richard
