What is Mod? Mr. Suave's Mod, Mod World is one of the web's original modcasts celebrating mod music, and mod-influenced music from past eras including soul, ska, garage, sixties R&B power pop, punk, britpop, acid jazz, lounge, easy listening and more. SEARCH
Dexter Gordon was born in Los Angeles on February 27, 1923 and took up the clarinet at the age of 13. In 1940 he joined Lionel Hampton's band on tenor saxophone and after leaving Hampton in 1943 he made his first lengthy solo recordings. Later Gordon moved to New York and joined a pioneering orchestra that included Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro and many other innovators of the new bebop music.
Throughout the 1950s Gordon performed and recorded very little due to his personal struggle with drugs and alcohol. In 1961 he burst back onto the scene with his Blue Note recordings. In May of 1961 Dexter recorded for Blue Note, Doin' Allright and Dexter Calling.
A little over a year later Dexter went back into the studio to record two quartet albums with the same rhythm section, Go! and A Swingin' Affair. Both records featured Gordon with Sonny Clark on piano, Butch Warren on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums.
Go! is not only Dexter's personal favorite but also one of the greatest jazz albums ever made. Dexter's blowing on Go! is nothing short of pure genious. Included in the six songs are two tremendous gems, his take on "Love For Sale" and his original "Cheesecake".
Dexter moved to Copenhagen shortly after this and his next album, Our Man in Paris, is considered one of his greatest and was recorded in Paris 1963. Our Man In Paris is unique because it features all bebop covers, including Charlie Parker's "Scrapple From The Apple" and Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night In Tunisia". It was during these years as an ex-pat that Gordon recorded the song here, "Le Coiffeur" featuring Bobby Hutcherson on vibraphone, it appeared on his 1965 record Gettin' Around, and has been underrated ever since. The song is superb, with its late night vibe, though much more loungy than most of Gordon's catalog. Listening to it is like sipping an ice cold martini. The chill quickly warms you in all the right places.
Gordon spent most of the 60s and 70s in Europe and didn't return to the states until the late 70s. He gained more recognition in the mid 80s when he starred in the feature film Round Midnight (1986) for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He died of cancer shortly after making the film.
Original punks, The Damned, were avid fans of sixties garage rock and psychadelia. In 1984 Dave Vanian and Rat Scabies formed a one-ff side project called Naz Nomad & the Nightmares and published a single album, Give Daddy the Knife Cindy, that featured mostly covers. They did the songs straight, as they were meant to be played, for all the world sounding just like a 1966 garage punk outfit. They covered Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Human Beinz, and the Seeds among others, and also contributing two original tracks, both of which I've got here. The band did a handful of shows throughout the 80s, and the Damned have covered several of the same songs in live shows over the years. They're coming to Seattle soon so I'll finally get a chance to see them live and see if they're still flirting with getting in touch with their mod side.
Naz Nomad & The Nightmares -- Just Call Me Sky
Naz Nomad & The Nightmares -- (Do You Know) I know
Out of Vancouver BC comes The Tranzmitors, dressed like Mods and sounding like power poppin', new wavin' punks of 1982. A potent combination to be sure. Their debut release on Deranged Records was so good that the new wave label of the 80s, Stiff, resurected itself just to release the disk in Europe. Along with The Briefs and The Cute Lepers, The Tranzmitors are one of the best bands that hearken back to that original punk sound. The song here, "Danicn' In The Front Row" is catchy, so much so you'll find yourself playing it again and again. And again. And probably again after that.
William "Bill" Basie. The Count. The little man with the big band sound. He may not seem like much of a mod, but he was suave, suave, suave.
Count Basie's legendary status in jazz is no accident. He quite simply was the greatest of the big band leaders. Ellington, Goodman, the Dorseys, all had good big bands, and each was spectacular in its own right, but none had the incomparable grace that Basie lent to his big bands over the years. Count Basie got his start in Kansas City in the late 1920s playing Mississippi blues influenced jazz with Walter Page's Blue Devils. Having come from New Jersey playing in a vaudeville/jazz act, Basie was anxious to play with a band like the Blue Devil's who were considered at the time to be one of the best in the Midwest. However, Basie first had to overcome a serious battle with spinal meningitis. After his recovery he was forced to take work accompanying silent pictures -- a talent he learned from one of his early mentors Fats Waller. In 1928 Basie got his chance to play with Walter Page and began touring with the Blue Devils. Soon though, Basie jumped ship and went back to Kansas City where speakeasies, gin joints and wild jazz were everywhere.
"Oh my, marvelous town, Kansas City. Clubs, clubs, clubs. I mean that was all Kansas City was made up of. The cats just played. They played all day and tomorrow morning they went home and went to bed. The next day the same thing." -- Count Basie
It was from the ashes of the Moten Orchestra and the Blue Devils that Basie first formed his own big band in the early thirties. Basie had played in an orchestra that over time had come to be comprised of numerous members of both Walter Page's Blue Devil's and Bennie Moten's Orchestra. In 1933 Moten split Kansas City and band members elected Basie to lead the orchestra. They opened for a new Kansas City club called the Cherry Blossom under the name Count Basie and his Cherry Blossom Orchestra. Eventually Basie organized another band under the title of Count Basie and his Barons of Rhythm. Throughout, the rhythm section of Jo Jones on drums, Walter Page on bass, and Basie on piano stayed together, beginning one of the legendary combinations of early jazz. Joining the band at this time was the incredible young saxophonist Lester Young, just in time for their radio broadcasts in 1935. Those broadcasts led to the national discovery of Count Basie and a recording invitation in 1936. Basie knowing next to nothing about recording contracts agreed to record 12 records a year for Decca records for $750 a year outright for the whole band. No royalties.
By the time the band toured Chicago and New York in late 1936 it was up to thirteen members, now including tenor saxophonist Herschel Evans who had a heated on-stage rivalry with Lester Young. In 1937 in New York the Basie big band picked up its longest tenured member, guitarist Freddie Green who played with the band even after Basie was gone, right up until the time of his own death in 1987. In 1937 Basie spent a night barhopping through Harlem and met Billie Holliday. Instantly he fell in love. With her voice. Soon Holliday began to sing with the band, staying long enough for a legendary run at the Harlem Apollo Theatre. Through the late thirties and forties the Count Basie Orchestra swelled to 15 members, and gained national recognition as one of the most swinging jazz bands in the land. From classic hits like "One O’clock Jump" and "Pennies From Heaven" to a string of great Basie band jazz such as S"top Beatin Around The Mulberry Bush", "Jumpin at the Woodside", "Mama Don't Want No Peas 'N Rice 'N Coconut Oil", "Cherokee" and "Oh Lady Be Good", Basie grew to be a legend in those early years.
Over the years Basie's bands were always filled with swinging soloists. Guys on trumpets, guys on trombones, and especially guys on saxophones, all who could belt out a swank tune that literally rocked the hall. Into the late forties and early fifties Basie worked with much smaller bands and his wave of popularity seemed to ebb. But in the late 1950s Basie simply reincarnated the Basie big band and began to have a significant impact on the world of jazz once again. From the swingin' devil may care sounds that had so infused Basie's early recordings he moved towards the swinging, slightly rocking, cool and hip jazz that was tearing up the clubs of the 1950s and 60s jetset. In 1966 he even succumbed to what everyone else was doing, covering The Beatles, producing Basie's Beatle Bag with swingin' covers of the fab four's biggest hits of the day.
Billed as The Atomic Band, Basie's group once again was at the forefront of American jazz, swinging and playing harder than anyone else. They backed some of the great singers of the day such as Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme and Sammy Davis Jr. and became permenant fixtures in Las Vegas. Basie's bands at this time were loose, and played together in a fashion that shows the ease they had with each other’s styles. The band was at its biggest ever with 16 people including Joe Newman, Snooky Young, Freddie Green and of course Basie on the ivories.
A certain coolness flowed from Basie during these years. A hipness that fit perfectly with the times. The band was smooth as could be, the rhythms beat hard, their songs cool and their concerts hot. Las Vegas was alive with Basie sounds like: "Corner Pocke"t, "Cute", "Indian Summer", and an absolute perfect arrangement of "Goldfinger" that was too cool even for Bond. The Count continued leading his band through the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1976 he suffered a heart attack, and though he recovered, Basie performed only when his health permitted. In 1984 he died of cancer. His band has continued on under the leadership of Thad Jones and then Frank Foster, both longtime members of the Basie Orchestra.
Frank Sinatra with Count Basie & his Orchestra -- Come Fly With Me [1966-Live from The Sands]
The Now People are a blast of sunshiney goodness on an otherwise gloomy day. The band is a sort of supergroup of L.A. pop underground players from The Wondermints, Single Bullet Theory, Arthur Lee and Love, and Brian Wilson's Band to name a few, so you won't be surprised to hear some nice melodies, vocal harmonies, and otherwise great pop music when you spin up this disk. Their 2006 release, The Last Great 20th Century Love Affair , will stir up memories of past pop icons like Burt Bacharach, Harpers Bizarre, and especially The Beach Boys, and more recent pop acts like Love Jones and Tahiti 80. The song here, "Trust" is a cover of Paul Williams, but really captures the essence of The Now People's overall sound.
The Aces were one of dozens of mod revival bands that left behind few traces of their existence. Rising out of punk band Menace, The Aces adopted a mod sound and image. Just one single was recorded, the song here "One Way Street", which has since appeared on several mod compilations. The Aces had a nice tight sound, blending power pop with sharp vocals and nice songwriting.
The Blacklight Chameleons were a mid-80s psychadelic garage band from New York. Their 1986 self-titled debut was a tour de force of garage revival with fuzzed out guitars, swirling organ riffs and shimmering vocals. The song here, "Door" was probably the best track, and one of the band's most popular. Even better than their sound was the band's ability to generate press coverage. They garnered national attention with a photo and write up in Vanity Fair of all places, and managed to keep on for several years. They went through a number of line up changes and later releases like 1988's Innermission, while solid, didn't have the raw intensity of that first record.
Dexter Gordon was born in Los Angeles on February 27, 1923 and took up the clarinet at the age of 13. In 1940 he joined Lionel Hampton's band on tenor saxophone and after leaving Hampton in 1943 he made his first lengthy solo recordings. Later Gordon moved to New York and joined a pioneering orchestra that included Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro and many other innovators of the new bebop music.
Dexter moved to Copenhagen shortly after this and his next album, Our Man in Paris, is considered one of his greatest and was recorded in Paris 1963. Our Man In Paris is unique because it features all bebop covers, including Charlie Parker's "Scrapple From The Apple" and Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night In Tunisia". It was during these years as an ex-pat that Gordon recorded the song here, "Le Coiffeur" featuring Bobby Hutcherson on vibraphone, it appeared on his 1965 record Gettin' Around, and has been underrated ever since. The song is superb, with its late night vibe, though much more loungy than most of Gordon's catalog. Listening to it is like sipping an ice cold martini. The chill quickly warms you in all the right places. 
