Stoned Soul Picnic functions as a survey of Roy Ayers’ tenure at Atlantic Records. Though the partnership lasted only two years—1967 to 1969—it launched Ayers’ career as a bandleader and produced three gorgeous albums: Virgo Vibes, Daddy Bug and Friends, and this effort. Rather than get caught between the pressure to become a serious jazz composer and his inner desire to make funk music, Ayers let himself do both simultaneously. “A Rose for Cindy” is at once tranquil and uneasy, while Ayers’ take on Jobim’s “Wave” is deliciously groovy. Likewise Laura Nyro’s “Stoned Soul Picnic”; Ayers often returned to Nyro’s songs, recognizing in her voice and writing a vulnerability that jibed with his approach to the vibraphone. “Lil’s Paradise” and “What the People Say” are lush and restless, but the most interesting track might be “For Once in My Life”: an unexpectedly brooding rendition of the song made famous by Stevie Wonder.