Roy Ayers
(born September 10, 1940, Los Angeles) [1] is a funk, soul and jazz composer and vibraphone player. Ayers began his career as a jazz player, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records before his tenure at Polydor Records, during which he progressed a new R&B style, slowly molding the new Disco genre. [2]
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ROY AYERS TICKETS
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Biography
Ayers grew up in a musical family. At the age of five,
Lionel Hampton gave him his first pair of
mallets, which led to the
vibraphone being his
trademark sound for decades. The area of
Los Angeles that Ayers grew up in, now known as "
South Central", but then known as "
South Park", was the epicenter of the
Southern California Black Music Scene. The schools Roy attended (Wadsworth Elementary, Nevins Middle School, and
Thomas Jefferson High School) were all close to the famed
Central Avenue, Los Angeles' equivalent of
Harlem's
Lenox Avenue and
Chicago's
State Street. On any given day, Roy would have been likely to be exposed to music as it not only emanated from the many nightclubs and bars in the area, but also poured out of many of the homes where the musicians who kept the scene alive lived in and around Central.
Thomas Jefferson High School, from which Ayers graduated, gave to the
music and
jazz worlds some of its brightest stars, such as
Dexter Gordon.
Ayers was responsible for the highly regarded soundtrack to
Jack Hill's 1973
blaxploitation film
Coffy
, which starred
Pam Grier. He later moved from a jazz-funk sound to R&B, as seen on
Mystic Voyage
, which featured the songs
Evolution
and the underground disco hit
Brother Green ( The Disco King )
, as well as the title track from his 1976 album
Everybody Loves the Sunshine
.
In 1976, he had his biggest hit with
Running Away
.
In 1977 Ayers produced an album by the group
RAMP,
Come Into Knowledge
, commonly and mistakenly thought to stand for "Roy Ayers Music Project".
In 1980 Ayers released
Music Of Many Colors
with the
Nigerian
Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti.
In 1981 Ayers produced an album with the singer
Sylvia Striplin,
Give Me Your Love
(Uno Melodic Records 1981).
In the 1990s, Ayers released several albums for the
hip hop records label
Ichiban Records.
Ayers has founded two record labels, Uno Melodic and Gold Mink Records. The first released several LPs, including Sylvia Striplin's, while the second folded after a few singles.
In popular culture
Music
- Hip-Hop Producer Madlib, under the rapper pseudonym Quasimoto, recorded the song "Seasons Change" using a plausibly risky sample of Roy Ayers. The song is included as a b-side to the "Bullyshit" single, under the independent imprint Lord Inamel's Wax. The song was apparently removed from the full-length album, The Further Adventures of Lord Quas
, released on Peanut Butter Wolf's Stones Throw Records.
- UK Hip-Hop artist Nicky Spesh, performed "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" in March 2007 at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden London, England with members of acid jazz outfit Ton Ton Macoute using instruments constructed solely out of recycled baked bean tins to make a point about global warming.
- "Running Away" was also used in an episode of Top Gear. It was used in the original amphbious cars challenge, and was played when Richard Hammond arrived for the first time in his VW Camper Van.
- Running Away
also featured in the 1999 Spike Lee film Summer Of Sam
Videogames
- In October 2004 Running Away
appeared in popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on Funk radio station Bounce FM.
- Two years later in October 2006, Roy Ayers appeared for the second time in the popular franchise, this time on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories with his signature song Everybody Loves the Sunshine
, which features on Soul radio station VC for Lovers.
- Roy Ayers Appeared for a third time in the popular game franchise Grand Theft Auto, with his song "Funk In The Hole" on the Grand Theft Auto IV Soundtrack, in the game it appears on Fusion FM, The station of which he also hosts.
- "Running Away" also appeared on the soundtrack of Driver: Parallel Lines.
Discography
- West Coast Vibes
(United Artists) – 1963
- Virgo Vibes
(Atlantic) – 1967
- Daddy Bug & Friends
(Atlantic) – 1967
- Stoned Soul Picnic
(32 Jazz) – 1968
- Daddy’s Back
(Atco) – 1969
- He’s Coming
(Polydor) – 1971
- Ubiquity
(Polydor) – 1971
- Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival
(Verve) – 1972
- Red, Black And Green
(Polydor) – 1973
- Coffy (soundtrack)
(Polydor) - 1973
- Virgo Red
(Polydor) – 1973
- Change Up The Groove
(Polydor) – 1974
- A Tear To A Smile
(Polydor) – 1975
- Mystic Voyage
(Polydor) – 1975
- Everybody Loves the Sunshine
(Polydor) - 1976
- Vibrations
(Polydor) – 1976
- Crystal Reflections
(Muse) – 1977
- Lifeline
(Polydor) – 1977
- Let’s Do It
(Polydor) – 1978
- Step Into Our Life
(Polydor) – 1978
- You Send Me
(Polydor) – 1978
- Fever
(Polydor) – 1979
- Love Fantasy
(Polydor) – 1980
- No Stranger To Love
(Polydor) – 1980
- Prime Time
(Polydor) – 1980
- Music Of Many Colors (With Fela Kuti)
(Celluloid) – 1980
- Africa, Center Of The World
(Polydor) – 1981
- Feelin’ Good
(Polydor) – 1981
- In The Dark
(Columbia) – 1984
- Goree Island
– 1984
- In the Dark
– 1984
- Poo PooLa La
– 1984
- You Might Be Surprised
(Columbia) – 1985
- I’m The One (For Your Love Tonight)
(Columbia) – 1987
- Searchin’ (Live)
(Ronnie Scott's Jazz House) – 1991
- Drive
(Ichiban) – 1992
- Wake Up
(Ichiban) – 1992
- Double Trouble (With Rick James)
(Uno Melodic) – 1992
- Good Vibrations (Live)
(Ronnie Scott's Jazz House) – 1993
- Fast Money (Live At Ronnie Scott’s)
(Castle) – 1994
- Vibesman (Live At Ronnie Scott’s)
(Music Club) – 1995
- Nasté
(Groovetown) – 1995
- Hot (Live At Ronnie Scott’s)
(Ronnie Scott's Jazz House) – 1996
- Spoken Word
(AFI) – 1998
- Lots Of Love
(Charly) – 1998
- Juice
(Charly) – 1999
- Live At Ronnie Scott’s (DVD Audio)
(Castle) – 2001
- For Café Après-midi
(Universal Japan) – 2002
- Virgin Ubiquity: Unreleased Recordings 1976-1981
(Rapster) – 2004
- Mahogany Vibe
(Rapster) – 2004
- Virgin Ubiquity II: Unreleased Recordings 1976-1981
(Rapster) – 2005
- Virgin Ubiquity Remixed
(Rapster) – 2006
- Perfection
(Aim) – 2006
References
- allmusic Biography
- Roy Ayers - The Official Website