Last year at the Lodge Room in Highland Park, Ayers’ vibraphone playing was assured and confident. Roy Ayers performing at the Kool Jazz Festival, Cincinatti, Ohio, 1976. She explained later, 'My father is a few months shy of turning 80 years old and with that brings physical and mental challenges that all people experience when they reach his age.' Roy finished the rest of the interview via email. Standing by his side, Ayers’ daughter and manager, Ayana Ayers, apologized for what she called 'a bit of confusion going on right now' and requested that the interview be rescheduled. Shortly after the interview began, however, Ayers seemed to forget which recording he was discussing. “When they reached out, I was very grateful,' he said. A deeply relevant set captured to tape in conjunction with the 2019 “Jazz Is Dead” live series in a Highland Park nightclub, the eight songs were co-written and performed by Ayers with producer-composers Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest) at Younge’s Linear Labs studio on Figueroa Boulevard.ĭuring a recent phone conversation from his home in New York City, Ayers said that Younge and Muhammad approached him about recording in the midst of a series of gigs in February 2019. Now in the twilight of his career, Ayers, 79, has just released a soul-funk album, 'Roy Ayers JID002,' drawing on ideas from his prime “… Sunshine” era.

His work in the 1970s leading six-piece band Roy Ayers Ubiquity helped spawn the subgenre called acid jazz. Hundreds of other artists including Tyler, the Creator, Jill Scott and Madlib have sampled Ayers, earning him a vaunted place among music producers and DJs. Snippets of the song have been sampled by Dr. Its longevity is due in large part to its use in hip-hop and soul tracks.

A minor hit when first issued, the jazz-driven soul song peaked at No.

Roy ayers albums count