Two classic albums by iconic jazz organist Jimmy Smith are returning to vinyl through Verve’s Acoustic Sounds series.
First up is The Cat, a notable release that reached No. 12 on the Billboard 200. Released on September 14, 1964, the album is filled with consummate Hammond B3 playing, in addition to Lalo Schifrin’s arrangements for big band. “Basin Street Blues” epitomizes 1960s sophistication, while the appropriately super cool “Delon’s Blues” is dedicated to the French actor Alain Delon, who Smith had befriended while on tour in Europe in 1963.
The title track also made the lower reaches of the Hot 100. And it’s still proving influential: The album’s title track was sampled by both Pizzicato 5 on “Twiggy Twiggy” and The Orb’s “Perpetual Dawn (Ultrabass 2).”
Also now returning on vinyl, Root Down was the Hammond B-3 jazz legend’s 1972 live album for Verve. Recorded in Los Angeles in 1972, it features a young band that were very influenced by the funk and rock scenes of the time. The album’s title track was famously sampled by the Beastie Boys for their 1995 recording of the same name.
Root Down has also been widely critically praised. Allmusic said “…the album captures a performance Smith gave with a relatively young supporting band who were clearly influenced by modern funk and rock. They push Smith to playing low-down grooves that truly cook: “Sagg Shootin’ His Arrow” and “Root Down (And Get It)” are among the hottest tracks he ever cut…There are times where the pace slows, but the tension never sags, and the result is one of the finest, most exciting records in Smith’s catalog. If you think you know everything about Jimmy Smith, this is the album for you.”
Both The Cat and Root Down are out now through Verve’s Acoustic Sounds series. All releases in the series are the definitive audiophile versions of classic jazz recordings mastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound from the original analog tapes and released in remastered 180-gram vinyl editions in deluxe gatefold packaging.
Buy the Acoustic Sounds vinyl editions of The Cat and Root Down.
