Jimmy Smith - The Cat

Request by Mark from Sour Jazz.

One of the essential Jimmy Smith albums that all record collections should contain. Moving from Blue Note to Verve, Smith swapped the small band for the large orchestra. The instrument Smith pioneered was the Hammond B3 organ, which had been labelled "the poor man's orchestra" because of the depth of sound it could create, so when that met a real orchestra under the guidance of arranger Lalo Schifrin the result is explosive. Especially when the orchestra itself contains musicians of the class of Kenny Burrell and Thad Jones. Now remastered the album hasn't a dull moment, with blues, pop and two cracking film scores (The Cat and "Main Title from The Carpetbaggers", which is used on BBC2's Money Programme). Then of course there is Smith's masterful playing that never fails to raise the hairs on the spine or get the fingers clicking. A cool, swinging, fun and indispensable record.

01 - Theme From 'Joy House'
02 - The Cat (From Joy House)
03 - Basin Street Blues
04 - Main Title From 'The Carpetbaggers'
05 - Chicago Serenade
06 - St. Louis Blues
07 - Delon's Blues
08 - Blues In The Night

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