This 1998 Prestige release finds the Hammond B3 legend Johnny "Hammond" Smith digging into a familiar bag of simmering soul-jazz grooves. It's a late-career highlight that shows Smith was still a master of the idiom.
- Recorded in New Jersey, "The Stinger" was produced by Rudy Van Gelder, a legendary engineer in jazz history. The album features a core trio of Smith on organ, guitarist Melvin Sparks, and drummer Michael Carvin. It reached number 26 on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart.
- Despite its 1998 release date, the album was recorded in 1970 and remained unreleased for decades. The tracks showcase Smith's signature bluesy attack and melodic solos.
- The title track, "The Stinger," is a driving instrumental that exemplifies the album's energetic yet smooth sound. Prestige Records was a key label for soul jazz during the original period of these recordings.
Johnny "Hammond" Smith was a towering figure of the soul jazz organ circuit. "The Stinger" was released late in his career, after a period of relative quiet in the 1980s, finding him in a groove that defied his age.
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