Happy 55th: Mose Allison, THE WORD FROM MOSE

55 years ago this week – the official anniversary was yesterday, actually, but we were out of the office – Mose Allison released his third album for Atlantic Records, but many would argue that it was the first truly classic album he produced for the label.

That’s not to say that 1962’s I DON’T WORRY ABOUT A THING or 1963’s SWINGIN’ MACHINE weren’t any great shakes – the former is fantastic, and the latter is still pretty darned good – but there’s a pretty solid consensus from jazz critics that THE WORD FROM MOSE is one of the best albums Allison ever released.

Produced by Nesuhi Ertegun, THE WORD FROM MOSE is actually included in the highly-respected Penguin Guide to Jazz as a “Core Collection” LP, which is to say that if you’re a jazz fan and you don’t own a copy of it, then you should either hang your head in shame or else say, “Oh, sure, I have a copy, it’s just in the other room,” at which point you run out of the house, hop in your car, and drive straight to the nearest record store to buy a copy.

Basically, what we’re saying is that if you don’t currently have a copy of THE WORD FROM MOSE, then the perfect way to celebrate the album’s 55^th anniversary is to remedy that situation immediately.