R.I.P. Roy Ayers, 1940-2025

Sadly, vibes master who always brought the sunshine Roy Ayers has passed away at the age of 84. He'll be greatly missed.  

Everybody Loves The Sunshine including Vice President Kamala Harris

 Vice President Kamala Harris has the jazz fan vote locked up – check the clip. Try the Kamala's record meme generator below.   

Put a record of your choice in the hands of VP Kamala Harris using this meme generator: 

https://kamala-holding-vinyls.glitch.me

That time Roy Ayers sang "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" on Soul Train

Here's Roy Ayers and his Ubiquity crew doing "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" for the Soul Train dancers in 1976. 

Midweek Mixdown: Unfold with Tru Thoughts' Robert Luis

Here's an eclectic 2hr set presented by Robert Luis including Emnative, Jackie McLean, Bembe Segue and Hemai. 

Here's the scoop...

Robert Luis is the co-founder, co-owner and A&R for the Brighton-based record label Tru Thoughts (http://www.tru- thoughts.co.uk). This edition of his Unfold show features deep jazz beats from Emanative with Liz Elensky, classic UK street soul from Courtney Buchannon, the new single from Tru Thoughts signing Tiawa (sung in Portuguese), Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band's cover of Jay-Z & Timbaland's "Dirt Off Your Shoulder," broken beat from Swell Session featuring Yukimi Nagano (Little Dragon) on vocals, UK garage from WTS, instrumental goodness from the new Hemai album, a great reissue of the Jackie McLean & Michael Carvin dancefloor jazz epic "De I Comahlee Ah," new funky disco from The Fantastics, and some classic hip hop from A Tribe Called Quest, Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, Souls Of Mischief and Roxanne Shante. 

Have a listen right here. 

Unfold tracklist from May 23, 2021

Roy Ayers - Everybody Loves The Sunshine (Nirobi No Drums Edit)

Tiawa - Sonhos Cor De Rosa (Tru Thoughts)

Courtney Buchannon - R U Conscious (Hip Hop Mix) (Conscious)

Emanative & Liz Elensky - Fall In To Me feat Ben Hadwen (Home Planet)

Soul Supreme - Huit October (Soul Supreme)

Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band - Dirt Off Your Shoulder (Big Crown)

Sampology - Memories In Flight (Middle Name)

Swell Session - I See Through You feat Yukimi Nagano (Hollow)

WTS feat Colette Van Sertima - Everything Is Beautiful (Charles Jay Remix) (What’s That Sound)

WheelUP - Fusion feat Bembe Segue (Tru Thoughts)

Alb-Ert - For Soho (1080P)

Lay-Far - Love So Deep (Axe Traxx)

Jackie McLean & Michael Carvin - De I Comahlee Ah (Melodies International)

Sun Palace - Rude Movements (Kenny Dope Dancefloor Powder Remix) (Alim)

The Fantastics! - Take A Shot feat Sulene Fleming (Richard Earnshaw's Little Big Extended Mix) (BBE)

Koothu – Shaanti (4NCY)

Hemai - Gone Surfing (Tru Thoughts)

Kool G Rap & DJ Polo - Ill Street Blues (Cold Chillin)

Souls Of Mischief - 93 Till Infinity (Jive)

A Tribe Called Quest - Luck Of Lucien (Instrumental) (Jive)

Roxanne Shante - Have A Nice Day (Breakout)

Happy 80th Birthday Roy Ayers!

 

Celebrating the 80th birthday of composer/vibraphonist Roy Ayers with two gems feat. Sonny Sharrock & Miroslav Vitous. 

One For The Weekend: Roy Ayers, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad

Listen to "Shadows Of The East" by Roy Ayers with Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad below. 

Listen to a previously unissued Roy Ayers gem

"Reaching The Highest Pleasure" was discovered amongst the tapes from the Roy Ayers' Virgin Ubiquity sessions. Check it out.  

Roy Ayers joined by Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad for new album

Roy Ayers: Jazz Is Dead 0002 is slated for release by the Jazz Is Dead label on June 19th. Listen to "Synchronizaton Vibration" and Jazz Is Dead 001.  

Here's the scoop...
Timeless music exists as a piece of art that is perpetually in vogue; a creation of sound that never sours with future generations.  For Jazz Is Dead, a taste for timelessness is essential and our strength is based on presenting the unexpected.  With great pride, we announce a new album with Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Adrian Younge and the godfather of neo-soul: Roy Ayers Jazz Is Dead (JID) 002

With a career spanning nearly 60 years, he’s inspired a multitude of artists with his jazz-oriented R&B: a fusion of post-bop and soul that canonized his place in the world of music.  He’s one of the most sampled artists of all time, responsible for some of your favorite songs by A Tribe Called Quest, Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu, Kendrick Lamar and more.  His formative years came in the ‘70s, with a slew of Polydor releases including He’s Coming, Vibrations and Everybody Loves the Sunshine.

The Los Angeles bred Ayers was raised near the epicenter of the west coast jazz scene, Central Avenue.  By day, a pleasant downtown for the segregated black middle class; by night, a dynamic multi-cultural thoroughfare of music, entertainment, and Black excellence.  At a time when Bebop was the new wave, musicians ranging from Lionel Hampton, Charlie Parker, and Ella Fitzgerald were frequent regulars.  With fast tempos, instrumental virtuosity and complex chord progressions, it was the younger generations answer to the oversaturated jazz of yesteryear. At the age of 5, Ayers attended a Lionel Hampton concert, where he was personally gifted a set of mallets by the legendary vibraphonist. “I was singing before the vibraphone but I was playing the piano because we had one at home…the piano really made me want to play the vibraphone.”  Ayers sought to become the next Hampton.

At 17, Ayers convinced his parents to buy him a $300 vibraphone, with the goal of one day becoming a professional musician.  As he progressed, he began performing with fledgling musicians like Bobby Hutcherson and Edwin Birdsong.  He also played with more established artists like Chico Hamilton, Teddy Edwards, Jack Wilson, Phineas Newborn and Gerald Wilson.  His persistence paid off and he found his niche as a touring vibraphonist for the flautist Herbie Mann.

Towards the end of his four-year tenure with Mann, he signed a deal with Polydor that would define his career.  Slowly, he began to forego some of his post-bop virtuosity for a prevalence in groove and R&B.   Unbeknownst to Ayers, he would create a catalog, ultimately serving as the predecessor to neo-soul.  This move was heavily influenced by his childhood friend and frequent co-producer, Edwin Birdsong.  During these formative years, Ayers found a new purpose and reached a wider audience with soulful iterations of jazz.  In ’76 he released “Searching,” and “Everybody Loves The Sunshine,” the latter serving as one of the most influential songs of his career.

“The song changed everything for me. It’s still the last song of my show. People always join in and it’s been sampled over 100 times, by everyone from Dr. Dre to Pharrell Williams,” stated Ayers.  His biggest hit was ironically recorded at night and the phrase just came to his head.  Roy chanted, “Feel what I feel, when I feel what I feel, what I’m feeling. Then I started thinking about summer imagery. Folks get down in the sunshine, folks get brown in the sunshine, just bees and things and flowers. It was so spontaneous. It felt wonderful and I knew exactly how I wanted it to sound: a mix of vibraphone, piano and a synthesizer.”

It's this simple blending of soul and jazz that revolutionized a sound of music for years to come.  Prior to recording Jazz Is Dead 002, he worked with Alicia Keys, Thundercat and Tyler The Creator.  When asked why he still continues to record music, he had one simple answer, “For the younger generation. That’s exactly why I do it, exactly for that reason.”

Happy Birthday Roy Ayers!

Raising a glass to Roy Ayers on his day with Ubiquity's appearance on Soul Train.

Sure Fire Soul Ensemble vs. Roy Ayers

The San Diego instrumental funk crew's cover of Roy Ayers' Coffy soundtrack gem will be out August 24.

Happy Birthday Jack Wilson

Remembering the late great Jack Wilson on his day with his version of Oliver Nelson's Stolen Moments.

Happy Birthday Roy Ayers!

José James fires up Nicola Conte's Love & Revolution

The long awaited Nicola Conte album Love & Revolution is finally finished and it's coming out on the Impulse! label through Universal which seems perfect for the sunny spiritual jazz vibe of the highly collaborative project. Once you get past the festively flowery sleeve art, the first thing you'll notice about the new 15-track recording (there's also a limited-run 2 CD version with six bonus songs) is that it's much more of a vocally-driven affair from the deep-digging DJ turned dancefloor jazz maestro with notable contributions from rising star José James along with Gregory Porter, Alice Ricciardi and Nailah Porter. Their positively smokin' update of the Roy Ayers Ubiquity classic Love From The Sun (see the clip below) will make you forget Alex Attias ever touched it.
Of course, Conte's bold decision to tackle such  monumental pieces – including the Lightmen Plus One's majestic All Praises To Allah reissued on Now Again's enhanced US version of the superb Spiritual Jazz compilation – required serious instrumental support so Conte enlisted a stellar cast Timo Lassey on flute and baritone sax, Till Bronner, Fabrizio Boss, and Flavio Boltro on trumpet; Magnus Lindgren and Tim Warfield on tenor sax, in addition to his dependable core group comprising Gaetano Partipilo, Pietro Lussu, Paolo Benedettini, Teppo Makynen, Bridgette Amofah, Fabrizio Bosso, and Pierpaolo Bisogno. There's no telling when (or even if) it will appear in Canada but since Conte just staged a Love & Revolution release party at Teatro Piccini in his hometown of Bari, Italy on May 21, the album will likely be available in some form momentarily.
 
Love & Revolution (Impulse!)

1 / Do You Feel Like I Feel (3:53)

2 / Love from the Sun (4:33)

3 / Here (3:50)

4 / Black Spirits (5:44)

5 / Mystery of You (4:22)

6 / Shiva (5:30)

7 / Ghana (5:09)

8 / Quiet Dawn (4:45)

9 / Scarborough Fair (4:03)

10 / Love and Revolution (3:35)

11 / Bantu (5:59)

12 / All Praises to Allah (4:30)

13 / Ra in Egypt (4:02)

14 / Temple of Far East (6:06)

15 / I'm the Air (4:19)





Love From The Sun by Nicola Conte feat. José James

Seu Jorge loves the sunshine... and Roy Ayers

Just in time for summer, Brazilian samba soul singer, actor and folk hero Seu Jorge has finished recording a new studio album, Seu Jorge and Almaz for Stones Throw's Now-Again subsidiary. Evidently, Seu Jorge initially came together with Nação Zumbi guitarist Lucio Maia, bassist Antonio Pinto and drummer Pupillo two years ago while working on a song for the Walter Salles film Linha de Passé about soccer and the favelas. Salles is the renowned Brazilian director behind The Motorcycle Diaries who initially recommended Seu Jorge to Fernando Meirelles for a career-making part in City of God so coming up with a tune was the least he could do, right?

Seu Jorge hit it off with the Almaz crew and recorded some tracks with producer Mario Caldatto, Jr., the Beastie Boys sidekick who currently makes his home in Brazil. The resulting Seu Jorge and Almaz album is set for release on July 27 to coincide with the group's North American tour which brings them to Toronto for a show at The Phoenix on August 2.
Although Das Model, their version of Kraftwerk's memorable Man Machine joint seems like it could be a crossover smash, the first track to emerge from the sessions is an exquisitely chilled version of the Roy Ayers classic Everbody Loves The Sunshine. And yes, it's dope.
Listen for yourself...

Everybody Loves The Sunshine by Seu Jorge and Almaz

Seu Jorge and Almaz
01. Errare Humanum
02. Das Model
03. Cristina
04. Saudosa Bahia
05. Cirandar
06. Tempo De Amor
07. Everybody Loves The Sunshine
08. Pai Joao
09. Rock With You
10. Cala Boca, Menino
11. Girl You Move Me
12. Juizo Final






Seu Jorge and Almaz
North American Tour Dates:
7.23 Miami, FL Fillmore Theater
7.24 Orlando, FL Club Firestone
7.25 Atlanta, GA Variety
7.27 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
7.28 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero
7.29 New York, NY Joe's Pub
7.30 New York, NY Terminal 5
7.31 Boston, MA Royale Boston
8.1 Montreal, PQ Osheaga Festival
8.2 Toronto, ONT Phoenix
8.3 Chicago, IL Congress Theater
8.6 Vancouver, BC Vogue
8.7 Seattle, WA King Cat
8.8 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
8.10 San Francisco, CA Regency
8.11 San Diego, CA Belly Up
8.13 Los Angeles, CA Hotel Café
8.14 Los Angeles, CA Club Nokia

Das Model TV promotional clip by Kraftwerk