The first time I played Roy Ayers on the radio was March 2nd, 1982 from his ‘Feelin’ Good’ album… ‘Turn Me Loose”. I was 16 sharing the airwaves with my next-door neighbour and pirate buddy Ross Tinsley (aka Ross Travone to avoid recognition by the DTI). Our station was Civic Radio and used our recently acquired aerial and transmitter purchased from local boffin Stuart from who’s garden we broadcast as it had the highest elevation on our road. We never actually got busted by the DTI, but we were discovered by other curious pirates including Chris Phillips and Jeremy Vine with their tracking devices but that’s another story…
Let’s rewind back to my first introduction to Roy. Many would imagine ‘Running Away’ or ‘Love Will Bring Us Back Together’ as the entry point and indeed I would have heard those tunes on Invicta 92.4, Robbie Vincent’s show on Radio London or Greg Edwards’ Best Disco in Town on Capital. But the album that had a profound impact on me was ‘You Send Me’. Featuring an impeccably dressed Roy on the cover - wearing a rakish Panama hat and crushed linen jacket (perhaps subliminally channelling the sartorial excellence of Trevor Eve as Detective Shoestring from the TV show of the same name). And then I heard the entirety of Side A on repeat (remember those turntables that went back to the start of the record?) that night at Anne Marie’s house in Epsom in what was another seminal moment in my young life…
The fact is Roy Ayers - both the man and his music - became enduring companions throughout my entire life. No artist encapsulates the full spectrum of music flowing from jazz through funk, soul, disco into house, hip-hop and broken beat quite like he did.
From his heyday as a purveyor of West Coast vibrational cool, he cut his teeth playing with the likes of Curtis Amy and Jack Wilson under the wing of Bobby Hutcherson and following in the footsteps of Milt Jackson and Cal Tjader eventually joining forces with Herbie Mann who gave him a valuable lesson on the intersection of hip playing and commercial appeal.
From there he travelled East where his chilled elegance, fused with New York’s urban grit, helped define the core components of his musical DNA. His 3-album tenure with Atlantic saw him combine forces with new scene heavyweights such as Charles Tolliver and Gary Bartz as well as still young veterans like Joe Henderson and Ron Carter. This sequence of albums really highlights that moment in which acoustic jazz is going electric, when records like Max Roach’s ‘Members Don’t Get Weary’ or Herbie Hancock’s ‘Fat Albert Rotunda’ are bringing modal jazz, the Fender Rhodes and late 60s politics into the mix. To my ears this is one of the most important and exciting inflection points in the history of jazz and for Roy to be in the thick of it is a testament to his journey. What I wouldn’t give to travel back in time to that moment!
As that decade faded into the rear-view mirror, Roy made another major move signing to Polydor and deciding to leave the more conventional Roy Ayers Quartet name behind by baptising his group Ubiquity as a better descriptor of the fluidity, openness and universality he was exploring through his music.
At this point it’s really worth checking the ‘Live At The Montreux Festival’ album from his June 1971 date where this new group made up of Clint Houston on bass, David Lee on drums and a new young creative force on piano… Harry Whitaker…laid down a set for the ages. This line up also tells you how hip Roy was to finding the best emerging talent. Harry would go on to write several big tunes for Roy including ‘We live in Brooklyn', as well as making major contributions for Roberta Flack, Eugene McDaniel’s and of course his own iconic Black Renaissance project…
The music on the Montreux album ranges from open ended jazz into an extra spaced out ‘In a silent way’ to the first known live recordings with Roy using his voice to bring his subtle funk to proceedings… another fascinating recording from the period is the ‘cut at 45’ 2 disc set recorded for Japan with Sonny Sharrock , Bruno Carr and Miroslav Vitous - check the stoner vibrazonic take of ‘Scarborough Fair’!
From here an utterly mesmerising (indeed ubiquitous) sequence of 13 stone cold classic albums ensued that could easily constitute a life’s work for most. ‘Mystic Voyage’, ’Vibrations’, ‘Red Black and Green’, ‘A Tear to a Smile’, ‘Virgo Red’, ‘He’s Coming’, ‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine’… on and on!! And the singers… Dee Dee, Carla Vaughn, Chicas… wow! And lets not forget the players… Philip Woo, James Mason, David Davis (before he left for Bowie and Young Americans) … arranger William Allen and percussionist Chano O’ Ferral who both came from the Latin jazz scene. -a secret ingredient into the mix.
As if this body of work wasn’t enough, in 2003 while still at Talkin’ Loud records I receive a call from Pete Adarkwah at BBE who tells me that he is with Roy in a warehouse in NYC going through boxfuls of unreleased Ubiquity treasures… The world stopped turning in this moment – a combination of envy and excitement – which ultimately resulted in the label releasing 2 LP’s under the title ‘Virgin Ubiquity’. But far from being the sound of the bottom of a barrel being scraped this find served up some incredible unheard gems and unearthed previously unknown collaborations with the likes of Merry Clayton, Terri Wells and more that would provide fuel for future hip hop classics notably the song ‘Liquid Love’ which was sampled by many from Knxwledge to Kali Uchis. One of Roy’s many Ninja moves was taking home the master tapes from his Polydor studio sessions without ever telling the label - a rare example of artistic expropriation. Meanwhile, Pete was kind enough to give me one of those tracks as an early taster which I released on my Worldwide Exclusives album… I don’t think Pete realised quite how spectacular ‘Reaching for the Highest Pleasure’ was when he passed it to me though… and finally released that track himself a few years ago!
From 1977 while being adored by the disco movement and played in all the clubs from Studio 54 to Le Palace in Paris, his ‘disco adjacent’ sound continued to build his music edifice further demonstrating his hipness to sounds that could connect with new ears. But unlike many at the time, before he got lost in the mirror ball, he did two significant things that kept him fresh and relevant. First, he created his own independent label Uno Melodic where he developed new artists and created classics like Ethel Beatty ‘s ‘It’s your love’, Eighties Ladies’ ‘Turned On To You’, Sylvia Striplin’s ‘You Can’t Me Turn Away’ as well as producing the legendary RAMP (Roy Ayers Music Productions) album with what some consider an equally good version of ‘Everybody Loves The Sunshine’ - a debate that will run forever.
Second, he went to Nigeria where he found a new comrade in music adventurism -the mighty Fela Kuti – playing at the Kalakuta Republic which led to the 2 of them recording the song ‘Africa Center of the World’ on Fela’s ‘Music of Many Colours’ album. Roy then took that song home and made a whole album with his band based on his African experiences… a must have – in fact I gave my copy to Thundercat for his birthday in the knowledge that they would inevitably work together some day…
Another memory I have connected to this period in Roy’s life was watching the film of that Kalakuta Republic concert with him on a dusty VHS at his NYC apartment and thinking about how it needed to find a wider audience! There is a great bit in the film where Fela’s band is performing, and you can make out Roy’s silhouette and vibes shimmering in time and space. Two further anecdotes about that apartment were that he had bought it from James Baldwin and that in the corridor there was the original painting of Virgo Red which I was sorely tempted to make an offer for…
And then - full circle to Epsom and the You Send me moment – to the first time I ever saw him live at Ronnie Scott’s around 81/82 with a band that I remember featured original member Philip Woo and the voice of Chicas. At the time bands used to do one-to-two-week residencies and I had my Ronnie Scott membership card which allowed me £2 entry Monday through Thursday – needless to say I went every night.
But this 80s period also corresponded with a shift in jazz listening tastes in America. Jazz radio had gone smooth and labels like GRP and Verve were championing a new saccharine version of the music which would be of great value to the musicians but would also consume them. From Jeff Lorber to Lonnie Liston Smith to Bobbi Humphrey to Roy Ayers. Smooth jazz was now the enemy for us bass and drum heads.
It was at this point in 1985 when I first met him in person at the New York Jazz Explosion at the Hammersmith Odeon where I had been invited to present the concert as a Radio London DJ with my Mad On Jazz show.
And this is where the special role of the UK in making sense of his music and then helping “export” it back to the US comes into the story. That moment of British discovery of his old records arrived with the growth of the Rare Groove scene. Built around warehouse parties and back-room energy DJs like Jonathan Moore, Des Parks and Jazzy B- Roy’s music was foundational with ‘Life Is Just A Moment’ as its bedrock!
It was here that we were able – thanks to my dear friend and co-pilot of Dingwalls, Janine, with her enterprising spirit and convertible 2CV - to get Roy down to the club on his one Sunday off from a 2 week Ronnie’s residency. As soon as he entered and felt the energy, he immediately said he wanted to play there and so the following Sunday there he was and when I suggested he do one of our favourites ‘We Live In Brooklyn” he did and it became a staple in all his future sets.
Worth noting that Roy was taking a huge risk in playing for us as he was exclusively contracted to Ronnie’s so we had to promote in secret – no fliers, no web, just word of mouth and over 800 people turned up – but Ronnie’s had no clue and we got away with it. Props to Roy for doing it in the first place as we wouldn’t have been the only ones in trouble!
Luckily for all of us, Roy realised through these visits to the UK that there was an audience desperate to hear the music that he was not being recognised for in America. And this rediscovery then led to his elevation in the ears of his home market as the nascent producers of the golden era of hip hop became aware of his extensive and highly sample-able back catalogue.
The earliest instance of this was A Tribe Called Quest - the first American group that dug deeper than the obvious using ‘Daylight ‘by RAMP for Bonita Applebum. The other key pioneers in this were Gangstarr -DJ Premiere and Guru would come to Dingwalls when they were in London, often borrow records from me for remixes they were doing while over and with whom I forged a relationship in music leading to me advising as well as being at the recording sessions for Guru’s Jazzamatazz which featured both Roy and Donald Byrd.
Further cementing these trans-Atlantic connections, it was a source of great pride and pleasure to bring together the US and British scenes at the 1990 Jazz FM Weekender at Camber Sands which featured Roy, Pharoah Sanders, A Tribe Called Quest, Steve Williamson, Working Week, Galliano, Brand New Heavies, Incognito, Snowboy and a host of DJs. I suppose looking back on it, what seemed like a crazy idea made total sense and at the heart of it was Roy Ayers who gave it its meaning… I must confess there was another first for me in his presence which we will save for the memoir…
Through all these interactions, Roy became really close to us as a community and would often hang in the house on Brownswood Road. As I started the label Talkin’ Loud he was an artist I championed to the deaf ears of money men in an attempt to sign him, but we managed a golden moments on Galliano’s debut album ‘In Pursuit of the 13th Note’ where he guested on the track ‘57th minute of the 23rd Hour’ absolutely nailing the accompaniment to what is one of the high points of Rob G’s spoken word poetic output. This also led to demos featuring him with the Young Disciples, Paul Weller and Dill Harris as well as an unreleased version of ‘All I have In Me’ with playing vibes. Wow I had totally forgotten about that – raw to the floor - I’ll play it on my next radio show!
Over the years I went on to promote and book him for multiple gigs including the Montreux Miles Davis hall event in 2003 when I was able to get Jamiroquai to join him on stage. The deep relationship with Roy stuck to the very end and I was eventually able to put him into the studio with Thundercat and Ommas Keith as well as on stage with Bad Bad Not Good and Ed Motta on two separate occasions at the Worldwide Festival in Sete. I’ll never forget Ed using Roy’s ‘Searching’ to describing how his music was modernist and architectural on the same level as Miro or Mondrian.
We also got to work together on the Nuyorican Soul project. This concept record released in 1997 is up there as one of my most cherished releases and a vital node joining club culture with Jazz and Latin blood lines. A record helmed by Kenny Dope and Louie Vega -who remain to this day two of the most vital and impactful music producers in the game - this project was one of a kind and within it Roy delivered another key moment with an incredible version of ‘Sweet Tears’ bringing his voice, vibes and Vince Montana Jr’s string arrangement to the proceedings. I was talking to Orphy Robinson the other day and he made a good point about the sound of Roy Ayers throughout the Polydor years being the product recording at Electric Ladyland in NYC or Sigma Sound in Philadelphia. For Kenny and Louie to add that authentic Philly sound by recording the strings at Sigma was a master stroke. Even though it was a tune recorded by Roy on other occasions – this version took forcefully into the present.
This time also carries with it memories of seeing him with some of the titans of music like Tito Puente, George Benson, Eddie Palmieri , Jocelyn Brown and La India at an unforgettable launch party in Times Square’s ’Supper Club’ … what a night! As well as going on a radio tour with him and being present for a special show he presented with Isaac Hayes on WRKS-FM 98.7… legends!. Everything we ever did together was predicated on my deep desire to see him elevated to the level of giants such as James Brown, Donald Byrd and George Clinton- the plane on which he rightfully belonged.
So it was very moving to see such extensive coverage of his passing across the board and particularly to read Alexis Petridis’ article in the Guardian especially so soon after his piece on James Hamilton’s crucial Disco Pages which illustrated that peculiar alchemy that makes the UK such a unique and potent place for discovering and championing music regardless of fortune or fashion. In that spirit, I hope that this reflection on Roy’s life and work shows this – he was so important to us and in some way we were for him.
Rest in peace Roy and thank you – been a pleasure travelling with you for the past 45 years.
Check out this mix by Gilles to celebrate Roy's 75th Birthday from 9 years ago showcasing some of his favourite tracks from Roy's slightly lesser known material…