OUR ARTISTS
		Bio Recordings:   Precious Seconds   Sitting on a Rainbow     Three By Three   We'll Meet Again   Where Old Friends Meet Audio Sample Upcoming Gigs Reviews Buy Online Artist's Homepage - na Nominated for a 1993 'Roots and Traditional' Juno award
	Mose Scarlett Mose Scarlett is, unarguably, one of a kind. While he draws on a wide range of musical sources from the early 1900's through the 40's, his style defies categorization or comparison - the blend is unique. He bills his music as 'Jazz, Blues, Ragtime and Swing' because, as he says, "those are the four things I've been accused of most often". His self-taught, original technique of fingerpicking, dubbed 'stride guitar' by Canadian music journalists, delivers a syncopated punch and features simultaneous chords, melody and bass line, smoothly executed, without seeming effort. Over top of the resplendent guitar backing rides a big bass-baritone voice, warm and rich, with enormous emotional range. As the Glascow Herald recently said, "Mose Scarlett is back, with a voice of Robeson depth, Glencoe cragginess, and kitchen-range warmth...lending the authentic ring of the ancients with his own original stamp, and much spontaneous repartee..." His eclectic repertoire includes Hollywood classics like 'As Time Goes By', raunchy blues like 'Key to the Highway,' and nearly-forgotten gems like 'The Moon Is a Silver Dollar'. Blind Blake's 'Diddy Wah Diddy' will bump up against Irving Berlin's 'Marie', and be followed by the turn-of-the-century sentimental favourite 'Wait 'Til the Sun Shines Nellie'. Although his pieces are performed only with his voice and acoustic guitar, one might almost believe a big band or parlour orchestra is playing in the background. He at once breathes new life into old songs, and preserves the integrity and emotion of the originals for a new generation of admirers. Once, when asked who his influences were, Mose replied "I've probably been influenced, one way or another, by everybody whose music I've liked - or disliked". In fact, the Scarlett guitar style was pretty much forged in isolation. "Basically," he says, "I made up my own way of playing before I heard anyone trying to do similar things...but later on, various people helped me to refine it."...people like his friend and mentor the late Lonnie Johnson, who played with Eddie Lang, Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong...like modernist musician Bruce Cockburn, who produced Mose's first album...like Doc and Merle Watson, whom he used to watch with rapt attention from 5 feet away...and like Jesse 'Lonecat' Fuller, one-man-band extraordinaire, the first artist Mose remembers buying a record by. Mose himself, conversely, should be credited with influencing many other musicians over his 33 years in show business, a fact which has not gone unnoticed in several music journals and artistic autobiographies. Juno winner John Bottomley is a former guitar student of Mose's, and many other musical friends, like Canada's irrepressible Big Rude Jake and America's inimitably eccentric Leon Redbone, allow that Mose had a big impact on their performing styles. He is widely respected among his peers, both for his talents and his wide generosity. A Mose Scarlett performance is much more than mere instrumental and vocal display. Mose's sets, at times, seem like finely executed pieces of theatre (albeit, sometimes, the theatre of the absurd). His patter includes entertaining and topical commentary on the foibles of the world (who else would think of introducing the 'Sheik of Araby' with a dissertation on oil prices?). In Mose's vicinity the unexpected is never far off - no one knows what is going to happen next (particularly his sidemen). He is deeply rooted in musical history - to give but one example, he performs 'Sweet Georgia Brown' with the rarely-heard verse and extra lyrics (though without a basketball). A keen observer of the contemporary scene, he is a trenchant social critic and a droll raconteur with many stories to tell. Though Mose is a fixture on the Canadian scene, performing throughout the country at festivals, clubs and theatres, he has also toured widely through the United States, as well as in England, Scotland, Germany and Australia. Besides performing solo or with various accompanists, he also appears in a well-loved trio with Jackie Washington and Ken Whiteley, all three of whom were nominated for a 1993 'Roots and Traditional' Juno award.
HOME | ARTISTS | RECORDINGS | TOUR SCHEDULES | ONLINE STORE MEDIA ROOM | WHAT'S NEW | LINKS | ABOUT US | CONTACT US