Mod Jazz Rides Again / Various

UK collection. 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. If we say so ourselves this may be the best yet. As always, we have mixed the better known, the classic and the obscure. We have international superstars such as Sammy Davis Jr, with his take on 'I Know A Place' - a club smash if ever we'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 our star quotient with her answer to Ray Charles, 'Come On Back, Jack'. Organ grooves abound, be they of a jazzier 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 flavors from Montego Joe and Harold Betters add spice to the mix. In fact, so good is the line-up that we could name every track as a highlight. What we do know is that we finish up with an absolutely killer closer 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.