Mose Allison’s Sound Is Greater Than Sum of Parts

Mose Allison is cool. He’s hip. In some ways, he’s a Great White Blues Singer. But he’s more than that. His unpredictable piano solos might include 10 bars or 100 of percussive bursts mixed with light dashes up and down the keyboard. His laid-back, well-seasoned voice has been a role model for younger singers in search of something a little different.

Allison doesn’t have the raw tools of, say, a Mel Torme or a Bobby McFerrin. And his piano playing isn’t as technically awesome as McCoy Tyner’s or Oscar Peterson’s. But he more than compensates with an elusive quality: soul.

“I’m just trying to get a good sound, sing in tune, get a relaxed sound--fundamental things,” said Allison, who opens a two-week run at Elario’s on Wednesday. “I’m not going in any new direction as a vocalist. My style is to put across songs I write, or by others, in an unusual way. My vocal style is just basics: intimation, sound, phrasing, breathing.”

Allison is being modest. A whole generation of younger singers has tried to capture his cool, Michael Franks (“Popsicle Toes”) being a notable example.

“The first time I heard him, I said, ‘Man, I don’t remember making that record,’ ” Allison said. “Lots of guys start out emulating someone. I started with Nat King Cole, Percy Mayfield, Louis Jordan, people like that. But I never sounded like them as much as some of these guys sound like me.”

Allison’s typical set opens with one of his idiosyncratic free-form piano numbers.

“I get to stretch out a little on piano, sort of like a jazz piano sonata. I have four or five different chord patterns that are my favorites. None are strict charts in the sense of a song. I don’t try to write instrumental jazz. I use a pattern. Sometimes it’s an indefinite tonality for an indefinite number of bars. There are sections where there are no chord progressions per se. Maybe I improvise on one tonality for an infinite number of bars.”

After that, he breaks into several vocal numbers, usually a mix of standards, rare chestnuts and the sizable catalogue of his own tunes.

“Am I going to play the same tunes this year as last? The answer is yes, but I’m gonna play ‘em differently this time,” Allison said. “The whole thing with this kind of music is not what you play, but how you play it. The challenge is to get it working smooth, to get balance, between both the outside and inside, to get something happening between the musicians. Every night’s different.”

His newest album is “Ever Since the World Ended,” but Allison’s personal favorite from his ample discography dates back to 1972 and a live performance in Palo Alto recorded for an album called “Mose in Your Ear.”

Here, his casual style is perfectly suited to songs such as Duke Ellington and Don George’s “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But the Blues,” which finds him characteristically hanging behind the beat, or “You Are My Sunshine,” which he transforms from a sappy standard to a moody ballad in a minor key.

At Elario’s, Allison will be backed by San Diego musicians, most of whom he’s played with during the past three years of doing shows here. Local flute and sax man Tripp Sprague is among the players Allison hopes will make his dates.

James Moody wowed an audience gathered at KPBS-TV’s studios for a taping of the “Club Date” jazz series last week. Stepping on stage in loose-fitting Japanese designer togs (“These aren’t my pajamas”), he launched into a set that included such treasures as “Giant Steps,” “Body and Soul” and “Autumn Leaves.”

His warmth and sense of humor quickly put the audience in the palm of his hand. He introduced Charlie Parker’s “Anthropology” by explaining that it was written and named after a swarm of ants bit the bop master’s behind, then realized whom they had attacked and returned to apologize. Big laughs. Holding up a sax, he said, “This is a stop.” Total silence. “An alto,” he explained. “ ‘Stop’ in Spanish.”

Moody plays Elario’s tonight through Sunday.

San Diego bass man Bob Magnusson appeared on almost every “Club Date” recorded in the past few months. He’s played with Bud Shank, Laurindo Almeida, James Moody, Papa John Creach, Peter Sprague, Herb Ellis and Barney Kessel.

It’s always a challenge to quickly establish a musical rapport with visiting artists. The group on the TV session with Moody, which also included former San Diegan Rob Schneiderman on piano and Chuck McPherson (sax player Charles’ son) on drums, had never played together before the taping.

“That made the endings a little more ragged,” Magnusson said. Otherwise, the band gelled into a tight unit after four or five numbers.

Magnusson’s output has been prolific. He’s played on nearly 100 albums, including with Linda Ronstadt and Nelson Riddle, Art Pepper and John Klemmer. He began his career with stints in the bands of Buddy Rich and Sarah Vaughan.

Early next year, he plans to record his sixth album as a leader for Discovery Records in Los Angeles, with a band including Hubert Laws on flute, Bobby Shew and Peter Sprague.

RIFFS: KIFM’s “Lites Out Jazz” series continues its rotation of local clubs as follows: Mondays, Colours Lounge, Omni Hotel; Tuesdays, Anthony’s Harborside; Wednesdays, Catamaran; Thursdays, B Street Cafe; Fridays, San Diego Hilton; Saturdays, Rusty Pelican; Sundays, brunch at the San Diego Hilton. . . . Holly Hofmann and Ronn Satterfield appear tonight through Saturday at Diego’s Loft. . . . The Jazz Thieves appear at Vic’s in La Jolla, Thursdays through Saturdays during December. Watch for a new jazz room to be added early next year.