OnTheFlip : Review - Roy Ayers

Roy Ayers : Virgin ubiquity (BBE Music)

Fresh material one of the most influential jazz, funk and soul musicians ever is a mouth-watering prospect. No wonder the buzz was on from the minute BBE boss Peter Adarkwah was offered to dig around in Roy Ayers' extensive vault of unreleased tracks from his late years -in this case 1976 to 1981. Favorites were selected and the result is Virgin Ubiquity- which BBE say could be the first in a series of Ayers archive excursions and Ayers himself predicts 5 or 6 instalments.

All this would have been a conspicuous exercise in fan-targeting b-side clearout commercialism if Roy Ayers hadn't been such a prolific producer, creating more great songs that could ever be released by his Polydor, Atlantic and other labels during the 60s and 70s. Rumours have it that there are still hundreds of tunes yet to be exhumed.

A few of the songs on Virgin Ubiquity betray that Ayers was nearing the 80s and a certain element of all-too-smooth and laboured production (yes, it's another euphemism for disco influence) sneaks into a handful of tracks. Sugar is the main culprit with a staccato brass melody that sounds like it's straight out-of-the-box, reminiscent of the brass sample in virtually all 80s pop hits. What's the T and Boogie down just manage to stay on the respectable side of the disco/raregroove divide -but none of them can pull off the borderline walk like Brother Green. A slight disco element has of course been in Ayers music since the beginning of the 70s, on most albums since Daddy Bug -and to be fair, even Sugar does grow on you.

But the true beauty of Roy Ayers' music has always been in his slow jams -classic like Hummin', Searching and Everybody loves the sunshine, where Roy's trademarks chord changes and positive vibe really shine. Thankfully there's plenty of such bliss on Virgin Ubiquity. Oh what a lonely feeling is an absolute gem, with its breaking string-keys intro and interludes with wonderfully heartfelt vocals by Merry Clayton. But to illustrate the disco point, the song does lose something as it slips in and out of a funk groove that's just a little too polished for comfort. Mystery of love slides butterly along with a wonderful Ayers/Clayton chorus duet and a perfectly slow rolling bassline. Green and Gold sees Ayers pick up the mallets in great style for a nice little instrumental headnodder. An airy simple melody on Brand new feeling leaves ample room for Clayton and Silvia Cox to let rip a few octaves vocally and wonderfully.

Roy Ayers' versatility has arguably been his only weakness on many albums and Virgin Ubiquity is no exception. Ayers has done everything from upbeat soulful funk to slow romantic ballads, from vibes slowjazz to funked instrumental escapades. This diversity most of all shone through during exactly the Virgin Ubiquity period. It was always hard to love his entire albums -either his funky soul side drove it or you'd go for the slower cuts and stand-out tracks always carried the album. Same thing with Virgin Ubiquity -but there is something in here for fans of all Ayers strains. Most of the songs could easily have been on the Roy Ayers albums of the time. Best would probably be if he had gotten the opportunity to release more albums simultaneously -upbeat could have been split from downbeat and his albums would have been more complete. It would be wonderful to see the next instalment cover the years 1969 to 1975, which was Ayers' most harmonious era -as the Daddy Bug vibes beauty spilled into Ubiquity's jazz, the Coffy soundtrack's funk and the blissful soul stylings of Everybody loves the sunshine.

Virgin Ubiquity is a diverse collection. Once you get over the shaky upbeat start and find a red thread, it's a sunshine ride with plenty for both insatiable Ayers afficionados and all lovers of great soul music. Roy Ayers is still the man. A great way to ease the thirst pending the drop of his Mahogany Blues album with Erykah Badu and more Virgin Ubiquities.

Review by Nicolai Hartvig

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