Andrew Cartmel Top Ten

One of the more positive parts of lockdown was being able to read an awful lot of books. When a guy who lives in my town (who used to work at Minus Zero and is a real Prog head) recommended The Vinyl Detective series I knew I had to read them. Murder mysteries, Vinyl, Charity shops, Cats and lots of Kent - does it get much better? 

Take it away Andrew...

Top Ten Jazz album covers featuring cats!

NB — Mambo for Cats isn’t really jazz, but it does have a fabulous Jim Flora cover design...

But if you think Mambo for Cats is too much of a stretch, then we can replace it with Jackie McLean — The New Tradition (Ad Lib 6601).

Of the genuinely jazz covers listed below, I think the most gorgeous is Pete Turner’s photo for Jimmy Smith’s The Cat. 

Buck Clayton — All the Cats Join In (Columbia CL882)

Shelly Manne — Swingin’ Sounds in Stereo / aka Shelly Manne and His Men: Vol. 5 (Stereo Record S7007)

Count Basie — Basie’s Back in Town (Epic LN 3169)

The Cats — Tommy Flanagan, John Coltrane (New Jazz 8217) — preferably the purple version!

Mambo for Cats (RCA Victor LPM 1063)

Jimmy Smith — The Cat (Verve V6-8587)

Hot Skins, the Jazz Afro Cuban Beat (Shelly Manne et al) (Interlude MO 513)

Joe Puma — Wild Kitten (Dawn SL 5139 CH)

Bud Powell — A Portrait of Thelonious (CBS Jazz Odyssey 54301)

Bill Hitz — Music for This Swingin’ Age (Decca DL 8392)

The Vinyl Detective series are available in all good book shops. Thanks Andrew!