by Stewart MasonReleased as Gene Ammons was starting a long prison sentence for possession of narcotics, Velvet Soul is a collection of outtakes pieced together from three different 1960-1962 sessions. As a result, it barely hangs together as an album, and while no tracks are barrel-scrapers, songs like the lugubrious nine-minute title track (starring organist Johnny "Hammond" Smith) aren't exactly the best examples of Ammons' work. Two highlights do stand out, however: The gorgeous, Middle Eastern-influenced "Salome's Tune" is rhythmically intriguing and features some swell solos, and a late-night version of Mel Tormé's "A Stranger in Town" is a gorgeous, low-key piano and tenor duet. The two remaining tracks, a nearly ten-minute take on the standard "The Song Is You" featuring a full orchestra and the inconsequential "Light'n Up," are listenable but not inspired, a fair assessment of the album as a whole.