Mod Jazz Rides Again

The Mod Jazz series has inspired many imitators, but the original is still the best, as this latest volume proves. Expertly compiled, it captures the top crossover points between jazz, latin and R&B; this may be the best yet. As always Kent have mixed the better known, the classic and the obscure. They have international superstars such as Sammy Davis Jr, with his take on I Know A Place a club smash if ever you've heard one at the height of mohair-suited Rat Pack cool. Jimmy Witherspoon offers up something similar with Hey Mrs Jones, while Nina Simone rounds up the star quotient with her answer to Ray Charles, Come On Back, Jack. Organ grooves abound, be they of a more jazzy variety courtesy of Shirley Scott, the Jimmy Smith-sounding Ray Franklin, or the more R&B-ish Booker T-alikes the Playboy Five and the Tempo Rhythms. Latin flavours from Montego Joe and Harold Betters add spice to the mix. In fact, so good is the line-up that every track could be named as a highlight. The compilation closes with an absolutely killer in Bobby Jenkins What Is Love. Fever for the hippest crowd! The Mod Jazz series started in 1996 and this is the ninth volume. As with previous sets, this has been compiled and annotated by Dean Rudland and Ady Croasdell.