Mose Allison, one of the great blues singer-songwriters, and a superlative piano player, has died. Allison mixed Beatnik wordplay, boogie-woogie, bebop, and a sardonic sense of current events to craft an amalgamated, distinctive style. His songs were covered often and were durable enough to withstand a variety of approaches. I saw him play at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Massachusetts in the mid-nineties: his wit, sense of traditional styles (and how he could fit them all together), pacing, and syncopated rhythms were revelatory.