Roy Ayers: Virgin Ubiquity

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating: * * * *)



Let's be honest, few artists cross the age divide - Johnny Cash may be an honourable, if modest-selling exception - but Ayers, 63, is certainly one. He's perhaps better known to young clubbers than his peers, has been sampled by P. Diddy, A Tribe Called Quest and Mary J. Blige among others, and this collection of unreleased recordings from between 1976 and 1981 came as a result of an Ayers and Edwin Birdsong album being produced by hip-hop pointman Marley Marl for the British label BBE.

Ayers mentioned he had a swag of unreleased recordings, BBE label boss Peter Adarkwah showed enthusiasm, and to his surprise learned that when vibist/vocalist Ayers hitched his band Ubiquity to Polydor in the mid 70s he had a production contract rather than a recording contract. So he kept his masters.

At that time, Ayers was working at the crossroads of funk and jazz with seasoned session musicians such as singer Merry Clayton, bassist William Allen, drummer Steve Cobb, pianist Bobby Lyle and others (all of whom appear on these sessions).

Ayer's contact book was big because he was in his late 30s and had spent the best part of his life in jazz on the West Coast. He had worked with Chico Hamilton and Hampton Hawes, and had four years with flautist Herbie Mann. For Ubiquity sessions he invited the likes of George Benson, Herbie Hancock, Billy Cobham and Ron Carter.

They were exciting times and workaholic Ayers was putting out a couple of albums a year. In the three years from 1976 he had eight in the top 100 in the US. Not bad, given they were jazz/funk/soul before FM radio had a format for it, and they were up against stadium rock bands and disco.

Ayers' jazz-lite and funk laid the ground for 80s acid jazz and his more subtle work has captured nodding heads in chill-out rooms. In the past decade he has been sought by the likes of the Roots, Masters at Work, Jazzmatazz, Eric Benet and Erykah Badu.

There are some real gems in this collection: the interplay between Ayers' featherlight vibes and Nathaniel Phillips' supportive bass on the gentle orientalisms of Green and Gold; Clayton's cloud-piercing vocals going the whole Minnie Ripperton on Brand New Feeling; and the splatterings of soul-funk elsewhere.

Those who remember Ayers from Herbie Mann albums will find much to enjoy here, and the generation which knows him as the inventor of soul-funk jazz will need no introduction.

Label: BBE/Border