Another jazz legend joins that big band in the sky. Vibraphonist and composer Roy Ayers recently passed away at the age of 84. One of the greatest soul jazz players that ever lived, Roy Ayers was a musician who’s influence was (you could say) “ubiquitous” among the jazz scene although (it is amazing to me that) he is still relatively unknown to most of the jazz listening crowd. Regardless, he carved out a very special niche that was all his own and continued to evolve his style and sound well into the new millennium. He was and still is a huge part of my jazz collection. He will surely be missed by many.

Like a lot of jazz musicians of the day, Roy Ayers grew up in a musical family. It didn’t take long for him become part of the L.A. jazz scene, playing as a sideman during the 60’s and even recording his first album in 1963. However, it was in the 1970’s that the infamous Ubiquity band was formed (for which he is well known) and the Roy Ayers vibe sound really took off. This is one of his greatest time periods, imo. The ubiquity rhythm section was so tight and the compositions were a fantastically funky background for Roy’s awesome vibe skills. There are so many great tracks from this time–I highly recommend picking up on Mystic Voyage as a primer.

Initially, he did a few albums with Ubiquity before moving on to more of a solo career, blending in R&B tones to his already popular soul jazz and funk formats. Everybody Loves the Sunshine is probably his most recognized work in the late seventies from the album of the same title. This is another great record to add to your collection. The song “Running Away” was one of his bigger hits at the time. He scored at top ten hit on the Billboard chart with “Don’t Stop the Feeling” in 1979.

After that period he did quite a variety of things, one being touring with Fela Kuti for a couple months in Nigeria. As the decades moved into the eighties, he worked with so many talented artists in many genres related to jazz, funk and R&B. Notably, he appeared on Rick James’s album Throwin’ Down and has quite a tasty solo in the track “Dance Wit Me”. Apparently Rick James knew EVERYBODY and the two were said to be close friends. He later did an album produced by Stanley Clarke called In the Dark in 1984. He did a solo track on a Whitney Houston album in 1988.

As jazz got more modern into the nineties and 2000’s, it branched out into various formats, even ending up with hip-hop artists. Roy became more of a “legend” status at that point, starting to appear on albums which gave more “street cred” to artists, like Guru’s 1993 Jazzmatazz album. While this was more of a legitimate studio production at the time, Roy Ayers songs and riffs have been sampled by everybody, especially the likes of De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, et al. It adds such a nice cool color to what was considered jazz-hop (at the time) and in fact, this is the way many music listeners have come to know the various soul-jazz greats of the 1970’s (including yours truly). The music was that good that it stands out of the background and enhances the track.

In 2004 Virgin records released a bunch of previously unreleased recordings from the late seventies to early eighties. Most of this is the during the Ubiquity band period and it is great stuff. This is some of his best work and it is surprising to me that these tracks were never released formally at the time. I highly recommend this double disc set, if you buy nothing else from Roy. You will absolutely love it.

One of the bonding elements of Roy’s work during his life was the term “feel good music”, which was more of reflection of Roy’s general attitude towards life. Any listener will instantly recognize this feeling upon hearing a Roy Ayers album. It really puts a smile on your face that transcends the music, whether listening to his works in funk, jazz or soul.

For me, I’ve always had a special penchant for soul jazz, partially because of the more funky rhythm section but also because the vibe (not to be punny) was almost spiritual. The soul jazz genre generates such an incredible listening feeling overall; the listener can always tune in and out of the various compositions, the solos, the band performance, etc., but the cool background vibe remains regardless and is really a staple of this type of music, especially the various joints that Roy brought to the table. I started covering Roy Ayers tunes about fifteen years ago and they have always been some of the most popular and well received tunes among the listening audience.

If you’re new to the soul jazz arena, Roy Ayers is one of the better starting points to jump off. You can set your Pandora to the Roy Ayers station and just let it autopilot you through this very cool genre. I think the listener will be pleasantly surprised by not only the compositions themselves, but the ferocity and virtuoso ability of Roy Ayers vibe technique. The dude can really play even though he often relegates himself to more of the background in many tracks. You might even hear a few tracks you recognize!

At any rate, this is music to be enjoyed, just the way Roy Ayers would have wanted it. The next time you have a free hour, put on some Roy Ayers, sit back, relax and the let the vibes do their thing. Thank me later! And RIP Roy–you are missed my brother.