The Cat

The Cat is a 1964 album by Jimmy Smith. It features the sound of Smith's Hammond B-3 organ with big band arrangements by composer Lalo Schifrin. The album reached number 12 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. The track "The Cat" has been sampled by Pizzicato 5 Twiggy Twiggy and The Orb Perpetual Dawn (Ultrabass 2) Compared to his earlier Blue Note recordings, organist Jimmy Smith's outings for Verve are not as strong from a jazz standpoint. Certainly his renditions of the "Theme from Joy House," "The Cat," and the "Main Title from The Carpetbaggers" are not all that significant. However, this set has some tasteful arrangements for the big band by Lalo Schifrin, and some good playing by the great organist on a variety of other blues-oriented material. Also, the combination of organ with a big band is sometimes quite appealing, making this album worth picking up despite its commercial focus.