|
 Once
one of the most visible and winning jazz vibraphonists of the 1960s,
then an R&B bandleader in the 1970s and '80s, Roy Ayers' reputation s
now that of one of the prophets of acid jazz, a man decades ahead of
his time. A tune like 1972's "Move to Groove" by the Roy Ayers
Ubiquity has a crackling backbeat that serves as the prototype for the
shuffling hip-hop groove that became, shall we say, ubiquitous on acid
jazz records; and his relaxed 1976 song "Everybody Loves the Sunshine"
has been frequently sampled. Yet Ayers' own playing has always been
rooted in hard bop: crisp, lyrical, rhythmically resilient. His own
reaction to being canonized by the hip-hop crowd as the "Icon Man" is
tempered with the detachment of a survivor in a rough business. "I'm
having fun laughing with it," he has said. "I don't mind what they
call me, that's what people do in this industry."
Growing up in a musical
family — his father played trombone, his mother taught him the
piano — the five-year-old Ayers was given
 a set of
vibe mallets by Lionel Hampton, but didn't start on the instrument
until he was 17. He got involved in the West Coast jazz scene in
his early 20s, recording with Curtis Amy (1962), Jack Wilson
(1963-1967), and the Gerald Wilson Orchestra (1965-1966); and
playing with Teddy Edwards, Chico Hamilton, Hampton Hawes and
Phineas Newborn. A session with Herbie Mann at the Lighthouse in
Hermosa Beach led to a four-year gig with the versatile flutist
(1966-1970), an experience that gave Ayers tremendous exposure and
opened his ears to styles of music other than the bebop that he
had grown up with.
After being featured
prominently on Mann's hit Memphis Underground album and
recording three solo albums for Atlantic under Mann's supervision,
Ayers left the group in 1970 to form the Roy Ayers Ubiquity, which
recorded several albums for Polydor and featured such players as Sonny
Fortune, Billy Cobham, Omar Hakim, and Alphonse Mouzon. An
R&B-jazz-rock band influenced by electric Miles Davis and the Herbie
Hancock Sextet at first, the Ubiquity gradually shed its jazz
component in favor of R&B/funk and disco. Though Ayers' pop records
were commercially successful, with several charted singles on the R&B
charts for Polydor and Columbia, they became increasingly, perhaps
correspondingly, devoid of musical interest.
In the 1980s, besides leading his bands and
recording, Ayers collaborated with Nigerian musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti,
formed Uno Melodic Records, and produced and/or co-wrote several
recordings for various artists. As the merger of hip-hop and jazz took
hold in the early '90s, Ayers made a guest appearance on Guru's
seminal Jazzmatazz album in 1993 and played at New York clubs
with Guru and Donald Byrd. Though most of his solo records had been
out of print for years, Verve issued a two-CD anthology of his work
with Ubiquity and the first U.S. release of a live gig at the 1972
Montreux Jazz Festival; the latter finds the group playing excellent
straight-ahead jazz, as well as jazz-rock and R&B.
Song Review - "Running Away"
While he was rising up the
charts in R&B and disco, tracks like this didn't exactly
make Roy Ayers the Jazzman of the Year. But unlike other jazz artists
who delved into disco and R&B and than vanished or embarrassed
themselves, "Running Away" was just the start of Ayers' chart prowess.
The song details a love on the rocks as Ayers sings/chants lyrics like
"We don't hold each other/Like we used to do." The fact, of course, is
probably lost in the blithe arrangement of this track. With an
inimitable thumping bass line and steady percussion, "Running Away" is
one of the tracks to hook R&B lovers, funk fans, and disco
aficionados. To that end, a 12" version was released that many people
might not know about. About three minutes into the extended track, a
dream-like, heavily echoed Fender Rhodes comes on the scene, followed
by one of Ayers' best fusion-era vibraphone solos. Despite that mix,
many might still prefer the original version. This track also has a
long shelf life. In 1999, to accurately portray 1977 New York,
director Spike Lee used the track for his film and soundtrack,
Summer of Sam. For Ayers other dance tracks followed, ranging from
the masterful "Don't Stop the Feeling" to the idiotic "Baby Bubba."
This was by far the most successful. |
