Mose

I've told my Mose Allison story here before but it's worth repeating. He came to the Univ of Oregon when I was in grad school and I went to the first of two shows on campus with friends. We were all huge fans. For reasons we didn't learn until later that night, the concert was over an hour late in getting started. When it finally did, strange things happened. Allison's trio minus himself played for what seemed like ages before Mose came on stage -- and he entered carrying a six pack of beer, which he put on the piano. He started drinking heavily and now and again getting up to walk off stage, leaving the twosome to fend for themselves. We heard a lot of bass solos that night. Well, it wasn't a very good concert, and we chalked it up to Mose being drunk.

But later that night, in a bar near campus, I saw Mose Allison sitting alone at the end of the bar. I couldn't resist: I introduced myself as a great fan, mentioned some fine concerts of his I'd seen in LA. Then he volunteered the horror of his day: the concert had started late because there was no piano on stage. "They thought I was a guitar player," he told me. And that's why he was pissed. I don't blame him.