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Washington Post
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Everybody vibed with Roy Ayers
There's a kind of hip, laid-back, feel-good mood that we call 'vibing.' The vibraphone isn't the source of that slang term, but the instrument has a strong claim on epitomizing it anyway. Its metallic, resonant sound is so inherently cool and mellow that even its lightning-fast virtuosos — mainly in jazz, where the vibes most often appear — sound more chilled-out than they really are. Roy Ayers, who died March 4 at 84, understood this perhaps better than any other vibraphonist. He had the chops to run rings around many of his peers, and he did just that as a sideman on some of the hardest-grooving soul jazz of the 1960s. But when he broke through in the '70s as a name artist and as a crossover jazz-funk hitmaker, it was as the metaphoric ice cube in a hot drink. In doing so, Ayers taught us all how to vibe. You can hear it in his breakthrough record, the soundtrack to the 1973 blaxploitation classic 'Coffy.' All the requirements for blazing-hot funk to break out are there in the movie's theme: energetic drums, slippery bass, percussive guitar and horns. Yet there sits Ayers, putting tranquil chords into the rhythmic accents, keeping the whole thing at a simmer rather than a boil. (Even his solo, which carries a lot of oomph, goes down with the cool sensation of a rainfall.) As Ayers's star rose, so did the cool in his music; the simmer went down. By the time of his signature hit, 1976's 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine,' he had mastered it so thoroughly that the song didn't need a vibraphone solo: Even the instrument's accents are barely noticeable, washed out in the mix by guitar and Fender Rhodes. Yet the mellowness they brought to Ayers's music is the whole ballgame. And look how Ayers described the atmosphere surrounding the tune's creation: 'The sun was down, but the vibe in the studio was really nice,' he told the Guardian in 2017. 'Pure vibes.' He knew what he and his instrument represented when they came together. It translated easily to Ayers's other landmark tunes, such as 1976's 'Searching' — which even restored the burning horns that 'Sunshine' stripped out but achieved a similarly chill result. The next year's 'Running Away' brought Ayers a genuine dance club hit, the kind that merited a longer version on a 12-inch record. Those are the versions where we really expect the song's kinetic energy to throttle up to 11. Instead, though, the big feature of 'Running Away's' extended mix is … a vibraphone solo. It plays right into the groove, offering a lyrical complement to the propulsive rhythm. But make no mistake: It's a coolant, and it feels like one. Ayers tapped into a tremendous power when he put the chill-out into funk and dance music. There's a reason that version of him became a musical and cultural force. His recordings are part of the foundation of contemporary R&B and hip-hop. The likes of Jay-Z, a Tribe Called Quest, Mary J. Blige and Jill Scott have all woven samples of Ayers's tracks into their own. 'Sunshine' alone is a cottage industry; 'Searching' isn't far behind. When the jazz-rap pioneer Guru wanted to create that vibe, he bypassed the samples and got the man himself. Ayers appeared on the seminal 1993 hip-hop album 'Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1' and subsequently toured with Guru. In all cases, Ayers's presence comes with a mission to turn the temperature of the music down — to create a vibe. Ayers's vibe was one that never ceased to be relevant. In 2018 he even landed the gig that's become the signifier of musical-cultural relevance in the United States: an NPR Tiny Desk concert. Then 77 years old, Ayers was flanked by a much younger trio of jazz-, funk- and hip-hop-schooled musicians. In his hands, though, they were slowed-down, relaxed, riding a gentle groove. They were vibing.
MTV Lebanon
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- MTV Lebanon
Roy Ayers, Everybody Loves the Sunshine musician, dies at 84
Influential soul, jazz and funk producer and composer Roy Ayers has died at the age of 84. In a statement posted on Facebook, his family said: "It is with great sadness that the family of legendary vibraphonist, composer, and producer Roy Ayers announce his passing which occurred on March 4 2025 in New York City after a long illness." They described him as "highly influential and sought after as a music collaborator." Ayers' own biggest hit was the mellow track Everybody Loves the Sunshine, which was covered by artists like d'Angelo and sampled by others including Mary J Blige and Tyler, the Creator. But he was so much more than his best-known record. A pioneer of nu-soul and jazz funk, he was a key figure in the 90s acid jazz movement. Happy and Blurred Lines singer Pharrell Williams has described him as one of his greatest musical inspirations. Ayers had a huge influence on many RnB and hip-hop stars, particularly in the 90s, with artists like Tribe Called Quest, Mary J Blige and Jill Scott sampling his earlier work on tracks like Bonita Applebaum, My Life and Watching Me. He also worked with Guru and The Roots. Erykah Badu called him "the king of neo soul". More recently, Calvin Harris told BBC Radio 2 that Ayers "just stood out, his music is amazing and just so intricate... everything just sounds so rich and warm". Ayers performed at Glastonbury several times; his last performance there was in 2019. He also wrote and produced the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film Coffy starring Pam Grier. Ayers could play several instruments, including the flute and trumpet but he became synonymous with the vibraphone, a percussion instrument that looks similar to a xylophone but has a set of metal bars rather than wood. His other hits include Running Away and Searchin', with his band Roy Ayers Ubiquity, who were also behind Everybody Loves the Sunshine.
