Cat on a Hot Fiddle

Last updated
Cat on a Hot Fiddle
Cat on a Hot Fiddle.jpeg
Studio album by Stuff Smith
Released 1960
Recorded August 7, 1959, Edgewood Recording Studios, Washington D.C.
Genre Jazz
Length44:42
Label Verve
Producer Norman Granz
Stuff Smith chronology
Sweet Swingin' Stuff
(1959)
Cat on a Hot Fiddle
(1960)
Live at the Montmartre
(1965)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]

Cat on a Hot Fiddle is a 1960 studio album by Stuff Smith. [2] This album featured the recording debut of Shirley Horn.

Stuff Smith American musician

Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith, better known as Stuff Smith, was an American jazz violinist. He is well known for the song "If You're a Viper".

Shirley Horn American singer

Shirley Valerie Horn was an American jazz singer and pianist. She collaborated with many jazz greats including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis and others. She was most noted for her ability to accompany herself with nearly incomparable independence and ability on the piano while singing, something described by arranger Johnny Mandel as "like having two heads", and for her rich, lush voice, a smoky contralto, which was described by noted producer and arranger Quincy Jones as "like clothing, as she seduces you with her voice".

Contents

Track listing

  1. "Undecided" (Sid Robins, Charlie Shavers) – 2:41
  2. "The Man I Love" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 3:45
  3. "Oh, Lady Be Good!" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – 2:21
  4. "Nice Work if You Can Get It" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – 4:06
  5. "Take the "A" Train" (Billy Strayhorn) – 4:13
  6. "Blue Violin" (Andy Razaf, Stuff Smith) – 3:06
  7. "They Can't Take That Away from Me" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – 5:09
  8. "Somebody Loves Me" (Buddy DeSylva, G. Gershwin, Ballard MacDonald) – 3:42
  9. "'S Wonderful" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – 3:45
  10. "Nice and Warm" (Smith) – 3:17
  11. "Strike Up the Band" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – 2:52

Personnel

Violin bowed string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths

The violin, sometimes known as a fiddle, is a wooden string instrument in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and highest-pitched instrument in the family in regular use. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino piccolo and the kit violin, but these are virtually unused. The violin typically has four strings tuned in perfect fifths, and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings, though it can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow.

Singing act of producing musical sounds with the voice

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice and augments regular speech by the use of sustained tonality, rhythm, and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir of singers or a band of instrumentalists. Singers may perform as soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Different singing styles include art music such as opera and Chinese opera, Indian music and religious music styles such as gospel, traditional music styles, world music, jazz, blues, gazal and popular music styles such as pop, rock, electronic dance music and filmi.

Piano musical instrument

The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700, in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings.

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