Beautiful uptown soul from Jerry – with pre Gamble-Huff arrangements by Jo Renzetti and Jimmy Wisner. The tracks do a great job of maintaining the perfect Iceman sound from Jerry's late Vee Jay years, yet also hint nicely at the direction to come. Titles include "You Walked Into My Life", "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", "Some Kind Of Magic", "The Way Of Love", and "Why Did I Lose You". LP, Vinyl record album

Given her start as a rough-hewn child junkie R&B singer, it's hard to believe that Esther's the one singing these beautiful ballads and soul tracks! The album's fantastic, though – and it shows Esther maturing into one of the more fantastic vocalists of her generation. Oliver Nelson, Ray Ellis, and Jimmy Wisner handle the arrangements – and they all have a very nice blend of fragile orchestrations that are just right for Esther's raw pain-filled voice. Titles include "Taste Of Honey", "Crazy He Calls Me", "He Touched Me", "Just Say Goodbye", and "As Tears Go By". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the grooviest Mel Torme albums ever – a smoking little live set that has the Velvet Fog hitting a whole new soulful sound for the 60s – with a leaner groove than ever before! Backing is from the trio of pianist Jimmy Wisner – although Mel himself also plays a bit of piano on the record – and the rhythms have this upfront, super-tight sound that really makes Torme's vocals pop – coming across with a fresh, swinging sound that's quite a change from the 40s and 50s! Yet throughout it all, ol' uncle Mel still keeps his pipes in perfect tune – that amazing voice that never lets up for a minute – and which holds its own beautifully on tunes that include "Anything Goes", "Love For Sale", "Love Is Just Around the Corner", "Shakin The Blues Away", and "In Other Words". LP, Vinyl record album

Warm, wonderful harmony work from The Tymes – a set that features lots of familiar tunes, but redone in really great ways by the group! The harmonies are the key here – as the group's vocals are totally sublime – cascading magnificently amidst some fuller arrangements that might have been aimed at a crossover market, but which hardly ever dampen their soul at all. Jimmy Wisner handled production, and brings in a gentle swing to some of the tunes – a groove that's certainly made one track, their title version of "People", a big fave down in the Carolinas over the years. Other tracks include "City", "For Love Of Ivy", "Look Of Love", "God Bless The Child", "Make Someone Happy", "The Love That You're Looking For", and "The Way Of The Crowd". LP, Vinyl record album

A really unique collaboration between fluteman Herbie Mann and soul singer Tamiko Jones – a vocalist who's always a really special talent, and who has an equally great ear for jazz as well! That style works perfectly here – as the vibe is somewhere between Herbie's Latin and Brazilian-styled sets for Atlantic, and some of the groovier jazz of the 60s – particularly the styles influenced by hip soundtracks of the time. Arrangements are very fresh, and even make familiar tunes pop nicely – thanks to work on the charts from Joe Zawinul, Melba Liston, and Jimmy Wisner. But the really special talent here is Tamiko – who sometimes sings lyrics, sometimes works wordlessly in a really cool mode – on titles that include "A Man & A Woman", "O Barquinho", "It's Time That You Settled Down", "Sidewinder", "Day Tripper", "Sunny", and "How Insensitive". LP, Vinyl record album

The title cut to this one is arguably the most enduring hit by this groovy pop/soul combo from the late 60s – but the rest of the record is all pretty nice, too, and it features good arrangements by Joe Renzetti and Jimmy Wisner, in the styles that they were using with other strong 60s groups. Titles include "Ain't No Soul", "Stronger Than Dirt", "Keep The Ball Rollin", and "Lovin For Money". LP, Vinyl record album

The Downtown Scene is a plenty groovy one – thanks to heavy percussion from Ninapinta, and some great jazzy backings from Jimmy Wisner! The album's a blend of Latin Soul, Latin jazz, and other mod 60s styles – all wrapped together with Verve-like perfection, with supporting players who include Clark Terry on trumpet, Artie Kaplan on sax and flute, Willie Rodriguez on percussion, and Jimmy Wisner on piano and organ! The tunes are jaunty, jumpy, and plenty darn soulful – all instrumental, and with just the sort of hip sound we're always searching for on records like this, but never find done so well. Many tunes are covers, but they're really transformed – and titles include "Downtown", "Mrs Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter", "1-2-3", "The In Crowd", "Help", "It Ain't Me Babe", and "Hang On Sloopy". LP, Vinyl record album

A trippier set than usual from The Buckinghams – but still pretty darn nice! The group are clearly feeling the push of more psychedelic influences of their generation – and complicate their core pop sound with a fair bit of other modes here – bits of folk, roots rock, and some other more experimental styles that are perhaps the best of the lot. And they've also changed production a bit too – dropping James William Guerico for Jimmy Wiz Wisner (save for one track), and spreading out the arrangements to match the variety of styles on the set. Fortunately, the great voice of Dennis Tufano still makes even the rougher moments sound pretty sweet – and overall, there's a lot more solidity here than other filler-heavy records from the time. Titles include "Back In Love Again", "Our Wrong To Be Right", "Can't Find The Words", "Song Of The Breeze", "Simplicity", "What Is Love", "Are You There (With Another Girl)", and "The Time Of My Life". CD also features a whopping 12 bonus tracks – some stereo single versions of songs on the album, plus the tracks "It Took Forever", "You", "I Got A Feelin", and "I Just Don't Know How To Say Goodbye". LP, Vinyl record album