Jimmy Smith - The Cat (1977 Japanese Verve Vinyl LP)

The Incredible Jimmy Smith - The Cat | Vinyl LP - 1977 Japanese Verve Reissue (MV 4007, Verve 1500 series, Polydor K.K.)

Jimmy Smith more or less invented the jazz organ as we know it, taking the Hammond B-3 out of the church and the cocktail lounge and turning it into a hard-swinging, blues-drenched lead instrument. The Cat is his most famous record, and it works by putting that huge sound in an unexpected setting. Instead of the usual organ trio, Smith is backed here by a full big band, arranged and conducted by Lalo Schifrin, the film composer who would soon write the themes to Mission: Impossible and Bullitt, and the results are pure widescreen. The title track, taken from the Alain Delon thriller Joy House, is the one everyone knows, a slinking, finger-snapping piece of jazz noir that has turned up in films, adverts and hip hop samples ever since. Around it Smith and the band roll through blues and movie themes, "Basin Street Blues", "St. Louis Blues" and the theme from The Carpetbaggers, with Kenny Burrell's guitar and Grady Tate's drums locking in underneath. It swaggers from the first bar to the last.

The Cat was a genuine crossover hit, one of the records that carried soul jazz to a mainstream audience in the mid-sixties, and it remains Jimmy Smith's calling card. It also belongs to a rich seam of Creed Taylor productions, the same producer who would go on to found CTI, all of them marked by that blend of jazz feel and cinematic polish.

This copy is the 1977 Japanese reissue on Verve, part of the Verve 1500 series, manufactured by Polydor K.K., catalogue number MV 4007, of the album originally issued as Verve V6-8587.