This outstanding 6-CD set from Strawberry Records chronicles 20 years of NEA Jazz Master Mose Allison’s long and distinguished career, featuring 10 albums recorded for Atlantic Records between 1962-1976 (including the 1966 live album Mose Alive! plus his acclaimed 1968 album I’ve Been Doin’ Some Thinkin’), plus a further two albums he made for Elektra in 1982 (Middle Class White Boy) and 1983 (Lessons In Living) respectively. A droll, keen-eared and occasionally world-weary songwriter and one of the music’s singular stylists, the eight-track Swingin’ Machine saw the Mississippi-born Allison expand his customary trio setting with the addition of trombonist Jimmy Knepper and tenor saxist Jimmy Reider, with material ranging from Ellington’s ‘I Ain’t Got Nothing But The Blues’ – Ellington being one of Allison’s most important touchstones – to the self-penned ‘Stop This World’. The material on the 1982 ‘comeback’ album Middle Class White Boy ranges from Muddy Waters’ iconic ‘Rollin’ Stone’ to quintessential originals such as album opener ‘How Does It Feel? (To Be Good Looking)’, with Allison on top form throughout. Recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival,Lessons In Living kicks off with the great Percy Mayfield blues ballad ‘Lost Mind’ and also includes Willie Dixon’s ‘The Seventh Son’ along with self-penned classics ‘Everybody Is Cryin’ Mercy’ and ‘Your Mind Is On Vacation’. Superbly compiled, annotated and produced for reissue by Bob Fisher, this good-value box set is entirely self-recommending.