Jimmy Wisner

	Chart positions ; Explanation of the data
	Singles
	Asia Minor
	A Little Bit Further Away

James J. "Jimmy" Wisner (born December 8, 1931 in Philadelphia ; † March 13, 2018 ) was an American pianist , composer and arranger . He had a US chart success under the pseudonym "Kokomo" in 1961 with the song Asia Minor .

Life

Jimmy Wisner played in 1951 in the quintet of Charlie Ventura , with whom the first recordings were made in New York (In a Jazz Mood); in the late 1950s he studied psychology at Temple University. In 1959 he founded the Jimmy Wisner Trio, with Chick Kinney on drums and Ace Tesone on bass. He has released several albums as a jazz musician, including Blues for Harvey (Felsted) in 1959 and Apperception (Chancellor) in 1960, and a rock & roll adaptation of Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor under the title Asia Minor in 1961 . After the success of Asia Minor , Wisner worked as a songwriter , music producer and composer for film and television. He wrote Don't Throw Your Love Away, a number one hit for the Searchers, and arranged for Freddy Cannon , Neil Sedaka , Bobby Vinton , Herbie Mann , Len Barry (1-2-3), Miriam Makeba , Judy Collins , Tony Bennett , Iggy Pop and Brigitte Bardot , in the field of jazz also with Barbara Carroll , Nat Adderley , Esther Phillips , John Pizzarelli and Mel Tormé .

Julia Edenhofer : The Great Oldie Lexicon . Bastei-Lübbe, 1991, ISBN 3-404-60288-9 .
Günter Ehnert : HIT GUIDE - US Chart Singles 1950–1953 . Taurus Press 1992, ISBN 3-922-54247-6 .
Tommy James . Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James & The Shondells . Simon and Schuster 2010, ISBN 1-439-14264-5 .

personal data
SURNAME	Wisner, Jimmy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Wisner, James J. (full name); Kokomo (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American pianist
DATE OF BIRTH	December 8, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH	Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States
DATE OF DEATH	March 13, 2018