Roy Ayers - The Jazzy Soul Maestro
November 14, 2008 by admin
Filed under Featured Artists
Roy Ayers is a highly acclaimed soul, funk and jazz vibraphone player. He was born on 10th September 1940 and is active since 1962 till date.
Roy Ayers has almost four decades of music to his credit with fans from the 1960’s. He was born in a musical family and he got his first pair of mallets at the age of five when he started playing vibraphone which later embarked his trademark. Roy did his schooling from Wadsworth Elementary, Nevins Middle School and later attended Thomas Jefferson High School. The area where Roy grew was crowded by several nightclubs and the families in that area were mainly associated with music.
As a Vibraphonist, Ayers is highly acknowledged as R&B and jazz artist within the music industry today. He is sometimes called the Godfather of Neo-Soul for the reason of his fourth decade in the industry giving excellent R&B hits.
Roy gave the soundtrack in the film “Coffy”, which was Jack Hill’s blaxploitation film in 1973. He shifter from jazz-funk to R&B and then he gave “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” in 1976
Later in 1977, Roy produced an album “Come Into Knowledge” by RAMP which was thought of as Roy Ayer’s. He released “Music Of Many Colors” in 1980.
In 1990’s, Roy gave various albums for Ichiban Records which was a Hip Hop label. Roy has founded two record labels Gold Mink Records and Uno Melodic. Gold Mink came down after recording a few singles and Uno Melodic released various LPs.
In his 20’, Ayers recorded with jazz singers Curtis Amy in 1962, with Jack Wilson from 1963-1967 and Wilson Orchestra from 1965-1966. He also worked with Herbie who was a versatile flutist and this gave him the great exposure to other kinds of music.
He recently recorded with Talib Kweli, a Hip-Hop artist and Will Downing who is an R&B and jazz singer. Most DJ’s and discos have remixed Ayre’s albums and the same are much popular.
In 1970 he formed a group the Roy Ayers Ubiquity, where he recorded for Polydor and featured various hit players like Billy Cobham, Omar Hakim, Sonny Fortune to name a few.
After Ayers met Herbie and Miles, he was much influenced by them and shifted focus from Jazz to R&B and soul.
His albums include “Virgo Vibes” in 1967, “Daddy’s Back” in 1969, “He’s Coming” in 1971, “Ubiquity” in 1971, “Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival” in 1971, “Coffy” in 1973, “Double Trouble” in 1992, “Good Vibrations” in 1993, “Fast Money” in 1994, “Vibesman” in 1995, “Naste” in 1995, “Hot” in 1996, “Spoken” in 1998, “Lots Of Love” in 1998 “Juice” in 1999, “Live At Ronnie Scott’s” in 2001, “For Café Apres-midi” in 2002, “Virgin Ubiquity” in 2004’Mahogany Vibe” in 2004, “Virgin Ubiquity II” in 2005, “Virgin Ubiquity Remixed” in 2006 and “Perfection” in 2006.
He gave several hits in R&B and Soul and this marked his presence as a top star with the fans.
TJ Grooves
Rare Soul Grooves & Soul Music TV
Great music.. I’m seeing him at the Liberty Jazz & R&B Festival in NJ 9/14! Anyone else going? It’s a whole weekend of jazz!
Definetly the Jazz Masters. I wonder if the new artist of today can even think of performing like the great Roy Ayers and company.
Love You Roy… Good Music For Our Souls… Thanks You…
Roy is indeed the true Godfather of Neo-Soul music, because it has been 40 years and he is still at the helm. His piano teaching mother and trombone-playing father ensured that he had music in his genes. Did you know that Lionel Hampton was the person who gave Roy his very first set of vibe mallets?
According to me, his best jazz-funk single was ‘Running Away’. I really don’t like what the DJs are doing to his numbers nowadays. I would love to stick to his original songs instead of the remixed versions. People may find these remixed numbers great but I think they are too noisy.
Its true Roy Ayers is a legend. The man spans jazz, soul (Neo-soul if you like) and has inspired countless of todays artists like Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu, 50 Cent, A Tribe Called Quest, Tupac, Ice Cube - you name it, they all credit him. And he’s still gigging in 2008.
I’d know Roy Ayers’ naughty sideways grin anywhere. Soul, funk and jazz …and R&B — that’s a broad array of musical genres.
Roy Ayers has been around and making music for more than 40 years! Great you say??? It’s crazy. What a terrific guy. I’m a fanatic, you’d have to understand the hours I put in to admiring him and updating myself on what he’s currently doing.
He seems to have this spiritual connection going on between him and his audience. His music is all his own. Yeah, it’s lumped into jazz but it has a unique quality. I often hear of “neo-soul” referring to his music. It never feels dated.
Roy Ayers is a blessed man. You’d have to be if you have that gift and creativity and graciousness. He can do no wrong. His popularity never affected him too much…not the way that fame affects current pop icons.
I read this interview with Roy Ayers. He said something that’s incredibly interesting. He’s very prolific and he has stashed a huge number of recordings all these years. And get this…he has at least 3 more albums worth of music.
Roy is known in hip-hop circles as the Icon Man. A fitting title, don’t you think? He likes collaborating with other artists and that has had electrifying results. I was at one of his live gigs in a New York club in the 90’s. I’ve never seen anyone take a hold of jazz like him.
His music gets sampled a lot. Mary J. Blige, who’s only my favorite artist in the world, did one on ‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine’ . Erykah Baduh did one too. This time she sampled ‘The American Promise’. When done well and especially when Roy Ayers is getting credit for it, I approve the sampling of old classics. It’s a way to liven the scene up a bit.