Mac on black 45 Views
Original mods liked jazz. That’s where the word came from: modernism. In Britain, the beef between mods and rockers had been prefigured in the 50s by modernists – fans of modern jazz – vs traditionalists – acolytes of trad, Dad. I don’t know if this amounted to bike chains on Margate beach (BAM! SOCK! WHAM! THAT’S FOR PLAYING 42 CHORUSES OF TIGER RAG!) but the argument was heartfelt. I’m not quite old enough to remember this in person, but my musical memory stretches back as far as my mum and dad buying the Acker Bilk & His Paramount Jazzmen album with the multicoloured typography, and I can just about appreciate the smiling style of Kenny Ball. But if I had to choose a side, my jazzy sympathies would lie with the modernist fraternity.