Penny Goodwin, a Milwaukee-based obscure singer, recorded “Portrait of a Gemini”, a famous piece of jazzy soul. Penny’s warm voice is quite charming on its own. But Richard Evan, Phil Upchurch and Morris Jennings all helped to make the session even more enjoyable. It has a Chicago-sophist-soul feel and at times it sounds almost like Marlena Shaw’s best work from the 1970s, especially her Blue Note sides in the first part of the decade. Only 2000 copies of the original album were ever printed. At one time, used vinyl copies of Portrait of a Gemini were selling for five hundred dollars on the collectors’ market. It features the original jazz dance song ‘Too Soon You’re Old’, as well as a cover of Gil Scott Heron’s “Lady Day”.
