Roy Ayers, the jazz vibraphonist whose clean fusion planted the seeds of acid jazz and neo-soul, died Wednesday on the age of 84.
Ayers’s household confirmed his loss of life on the musician’s Fb web page. “It’s with nice unhappiness that the household of legendary vibraphonist, composer, and producer Roy Ayers announce his passing which occurred on March 4, 2025 in New York Metropolis after an extended sickness.” A particular reason for loss of life was not instantly out there.
Initially a practitioner of exhausting bop, Ayers eased into jazz fusion within the early Nineteen Seventies, a transition he underscored by forming the group Roy Ayers Ubiquity. Cultivating a clean signature sound that wove lush soul, elastic jazz, and tight funk, Ayers emphasised rhythm and texture, a mix that gave him a handful of crossover R&B hits; “Working Away” cracked Billboard’s R&B High 20 in 1977, with “Scorching” matching that feat in 1985.
It was a mix that additionally made his work ripe for sampling. “Everyone Loves the Sunshine,” a Ubiquity observe from 1976, grew to become a ubiquitous pattern within the Nineties after being featured in Mary J. Blige’s “My Life.” Through the years, Ayers’s music was sampled by Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, A Tribe Known as Quest, Kanye West, Frequent, and Tyler the Creator, amongst scores of different acts.
“Roy Ayers was form of a godfather of the modern vibes. He introduced a unique aspect to his sound, in comparison with all people else,” vibraphonist Warren Wold instructed the New York Instances final yr. “Roy’s music is one thing you may jam to and have time, or you may simply sit again and hang around with it within the background. The vibe is at all times sturdy.”
A local of Los Angeles, Ayers was born September 10, 1940. Raised in a musical family, he discovered himself drawn to the vibraphone after witnessing Lionel Hampton’s Large Band when he was 5 years previous. Quickly, he discovered piano and sang in a church choir however didn’t purchase his first vibraphone till he was 17. As he studied music principle at Los Angeles Metropolis Faculty, he performed jazz in nightclubs.
The primary time Ayers appeared on report was on a session by saxophonist Curtis Amy. By 1963, he had his personal recording contract, releasing his debut album West Coast Vibes in 1963. Ayers started to realize widespread recognition for his collaboration with flutist Herbie Mann. The vibraphonist joined Mann’s band in 1966, a favor the flutist returned by producing three albums for Ayers within the late sixties, classes that helped push the vibraphonist towards funkafied fusion.
Signing with Polydor, Ayers launched Ubiquity in 1970, swiftly forming a bunch named after the album. His burgeoning jazz-funk had a cinematic aptitude that flowered on his soundtrack for the seminal blaxploitation movie Coffy in 1973.
Ayers hit his groove within the mid-Nineteen Seventies, releasing Everyone Loves The Sunshine, the 1976 album that grew to become the cornerstone of his legacy. Its heat, comforting vibes turned it into a permanent commonplace that eclipsed its chart place, thanks significantly to it being repurposed on hip-hop information by generations of musicians raised on his music.
Ayers continued to play fusion because the cult round his previous information coalesced. He embraced the newer musicians who created acid jazz, neo-soul, and jazz-rap out of his albums. He appeared on Guru’s pioneering 1993 album Jazzmatazz Vol. 1 and, almost a decade later, took benefit of his standing in neo-soul circles with Mahogany Vibe, a 2004 report that includes appearances by Erykah Badu and Betty Wright.
Ayers didn’t report extra albums after Mahogany Vibe however he didn’t grow to be a recluse. He cameoed on Tyler, The Creator’s “Discover Your Wings,” then performed with Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad on the 2020 album Roy Ayers JID002.
