This breakthrough recording has a warm sun-tinged soulful jazz-funk feel, featuring a number of early “Ubiquity-era” classics including “Pretty Brown Skin,” “Hummin’ in the Sun,” “Can You Dig It?,” and the mid-tempo groover “Painted Desert.” This highly-collectable album seems to have set-up the foundation for what became Ayers’ signature sound moving forward.
This brilliant, and often overlooked album from Ayers features some of the best jazz artists of this era, including trumpeter Charles Tolliver, saxophonists Joe Henderson and Harold Land, bassists Reggie Workman and Buster Williams, pianist Herbie Hancock, drummer Derek Bailey, and many others.Īyer’s first release on Polydor sees the vibraphonist shifting his focus away from straight-ahead jazz and towards a more funk-inspired fusion sound. During this same period, Ayers released two jazz-focused albums as a leader, with one of them being the 1967 recording Virgo Vibes (the other being the 1963 West Coast Vibes). Prior to to exploring a more funkier sound, Roy Ayers spent the sixties as a promising up-and-coming post-bop jazz vibraphonist, performing alongside Jack Wilson, Herbie Mann, and performing in the Gerald Wilson Orchestra. Also remember to checkout BeatCaffeine’s 30 Essential Roy Ayers Songs playlist at the bottom of this post. Here are 15 essential records (in chronological order) by the jazz-funk legend. During the seventies and early eighties, the legendary artist released a string of groundbreaking recordings that defined any genre, fusing jazz, funk, and soul together to create his own signature sound which some have labeled “neo-soul.” Regardless of the label, his music can be heard across a wide diverse of settings, anywhere from the disco dance floor to a jazz nightclub. Composer, vibraphonist, and vocalist Roy Ayers is one of the greatest jazz-funk musicians of our time.
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