This Is This

Jimmy Smith had an improvisation vocabularly that would make most soloists reel - this is over three chords and the fire never dies down.

On top of that he’s got great rhythm and a sense of showmanship that comes across in this recording from 1964. I saw him play in a club in Camden a few years back and he had grown men playing “air hammond” without a care in the world.

My dad used to play this all the time when I was a kid, his most famous recording “Got My Mojo Workin’” is a great tune but this tops even that.

I feel like Humphrey Littleton now. A national treasure, by the way, Humph.

I’ve had a great week and here’s how I feel by the end of it.

Listen: The Cat 

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Related page
Weekend Song archive

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