Mose Allison

he wrote a good handful of classics (everybody's crying mercy, parchmans farm, young man blues, etc.), which is harder than you think in that genre. i saw him live twice, i think (once for sure with bonnie raitt) and he was just like you picture him--a hep cat with a little bit of sardonic wit, but a very serious piano player.

One of my favorite Mose songs reminds me of a ditzy co-worker I once knew.  The words may not be exactly as he wrote them, but the best lines went something like:

If silence was golden you couldn't raise a dime
Because your mind's on vacation
And your mouth's working overtime.

I need to find that LP and give it a spin.

It's interesting to me that British bands did some pretty slamming covers of his material--I'm thinking of The Yardbirds' "I'm Not Talking" and the Who's "Young Man Blues."  Both are a far cry from the original sound of Mose at the piano.

R. I. P. ,  Mr. Allison. 

In a couple words, great stuff. 

his lyrics were very sharp, with a sort of angsty, rebellious edge--you can see where pete townsend took a lot of inspiration. allmusic also lists hendrix, elvis c. and lyle lovett as his followers, which seems correct.