Roy Ayers
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| Roy Ayers | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Roy Ayers |
| Born | September 10, 1940 |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Jazz Jazz-Fusion Funk Acid Jazz Disco Soul jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals Vibraphone |
| Years active | 1962 - present |
| Associated acts | RAMP |
| Website | Roy Ayers' official site |
Roy Ayers (born September 10, 1940, Los Angeles) is a funk, soul and jazz vibraphone player.[1]
Contents |
[edit] 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 stayed 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 and especially the title track from his 1976 album Everybody Loves the Sunshine. Other notable songs by Ayers include "Running Away", "Searching", and "Sensitize" (co-written by Ayers protegé Wayne K. Garfield).
[edit] In popular culture
- 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.
- "Running Away" also appeared on the soundtrack of Driver: Parallel Lines.
- 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.
- 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.
[edit] Discography
- West Coast Vibes (United Artists) (1963)
- Virgo Vibes (Atlantic) (1967)
- Stoned Soul Picnic (Atlantic) (1968)
- Ubiquity (Polydor) (1971)
- He's Coming (Polydor) (1972)
- Coffy (soundtrack) (Polydor) (1973)
- Red, Black & Green (Polydor) (1973)
- Change Up The Groove (Polydor) (1974)
- A Tear To A Smile (Polydor) (1975)
- Mystic Voyage (Polydor) (1975)
- Vibrations (Polydor) (1976)
- Everybody Loves the Sunshine (Polydor) (1976)
- Lifeline (Polydor) (1977)
- You Send Me (Polydor) (1978)
- No Stranger To Love (Polydor) (1979)
- Love Fantasy (Polydor) (1980)
- Music Of Many Colors (With Fela Kuti) (Celluloid) (1980)
- Africa - Centre Of The World (Polydor) (1981)
- Mahogany Vibe (BBE) (2004)
- Sunshine Man (Aim Records) (2005)
