Guy's Cool Breeze

Vernon Guy - Anything - To Make It With You

Vernon Guy's most successful work was as a member of the Chicago soul group The Sharpees, who, despite some nice harder-hitting sides on One-Derful! and Midas, never broke through to the big time. (On the Bill Kenner aircheck featured in the "Soul on the Air" series, "The Sock" is played.) Prior to his involvement with The Sharpees, Guy was part of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue along with future fellow Sharpee Stacey Johnson, and Guy had two single releases, including today's selection, with Ike Turner at the helm (Johnson, for his part, had two Ike Turner-related releases as well). "Anything - To Make It With You," a 1963 Sonja single, is a very atmospheric number, featuring a sweet vocal by Guy and a light rhumba tinge in the verses, followed by a chunky shuffle in the choruses not unlike the groove that graced a lot of Ike & Tina sides in those days. It's a cool breeze that sticks with the listener longer than it would initially appear.