Roy Ayers
Even if you haven’t heard of Roy Ayers, you’ve heard Roy Ayers. The 71-year-old vibraphonist’s music is widely considered to have been pivotal in spawning the mid-’90s “neo-soul” movement, and is a staple in the crates of discerning underground hip-hop producers who constantly sampled his warm grooves. Artists including Mary J. Blige, A Tribe Called Quest, and The Roots have drawn on his music over the years.
Ayers remains as relevant as ever in 2011, with a documentary The Roy Ayers Project in development and a busy touring schedule. On Nov. 20, Ayers will close Toronto’s 2011 Nu Jazz Festival with a concert at the (Virgin Mobile) Mod Club. Ayers took some time to chat with The A.V. Club about his musical history and influence.
The A.V. Club: You came to Toronto once as part of the Acid Jazz Festival. Now you are coming back as part of the Nu Jazz Festival. How would you label your music?
Roy Ayers: I would say my music is called neo-soul. At one time I used to call it jazz-funk, because it was jazz with a funky beat. But it had so many variations, so many different styles, many different forms of music. When I was talking to a young singer named Erykah Badu, and we were recording in the studio, and she said, “You know, you are the king of neo-soul!” And I said, “What is neo-soul?” This is about, maybe two, two and a half years ago. She said “Neo-soul is your style of music, your sound.” She said, “I like your sound; I’ve tried to copy your sound, as far as the overall sound of your mix, because it is an analog sound.” That was an old sound, and I still use it when I can on analog equipment.
Everybody else is recording on ProTools, which is digital. She said, “Jill Scott and The Roots, they copy it, too”—because she travels in close company with them on a lot of things. So I said, “That’s great!” I like that sound, because a lot of people have different names. Gilles Peterson called it acid jazz. Just so many different people have different names: jazz funk, jazz in the pocket—all kinds of names. But I like neo-soul, because neo-soul encompasses a variety of styles, and I like to say my music encompasses a lot of different styles: jazz, funk, blues, soul, Latin, all kinds of stuff.
AVC: Can you describe how you came up with your sound?
RA: Well, you know, when you’re creating music—I don’t know; I just start to write music. How I came up with my sound is a different thing, but when I write music I get a spontaneous feeling off the vibe that I feel at the time. Something that might be happening—it might be a word or a subject matter; it could be something that I worked on before, and I continue to work on it. It’s so many different things that inspire me to write. Other than the writing, to play and improvise is a great task. The one thing about playing: Because of improvisation, I believe I’m a specialist in improvisation, at least with my improvisation. I’m not as special as John Coltrane, but I’m special as Roy Ayers. The specialist effect comes from just performing with so many different musicians and learning how to phrase and create my own style—my own sound within my own style. It may sound technical; I have explained this to other people, and it’s very difficult to explain improvisation because the improvisation is upon the performer at the time of improvisation.
AVC: What can you say about the Roy Ayers Project documentary?
RA: A group of young people they came to see me in New York. They came out from Oakland, California—about seven of them—and they interviewed me. They are the ones that are doing the Roy Ayers Project. The Roy Ayers Project consists of many different interviews from some of my peers and some people that have worked with me ... like Herbie Hancock ... George Benson. There’s a lot of people who worked with me, male and female, and they got interviews with them for this project. They really have shown a great appreciation for my music, and it makes me feel good. I spent several hours with them, you know, being interviewed by them. And they’re very creative ... and they’re just doing a great project on me. I’m just very appreciative, because they love my music and they want to do a big show on me, a big concert, and they’re going to work with some people doing another documentary on me—and they’re going to use their clippings, so it’s really nice. They’re just paying some attention to me and focusing on my career and my life.
AVC: To what do you attribute your multigenerational appeal?
RA: I believe the music; it’s done it before, it goes around in cycles. It has low periods and high periods. At a point in my life, when I was very young, I saw people at their peaks—people like Miles Davis, Jimmy Smith, Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, and Archie Shepp. I saw them, and I had the opportunity to jam and play with some of them. I was with Herbie Mann for four years, wonderful years; he was a great leader. I pattern myself in many ways after him, his leadership qualities—so that’s what happened. And all these guys I just mentioned, just about all of them have died, and their music lives on and keeps their memory of them alive.
I remember talking to an old man at a club, and we were discussing why it was very hard for jazz artists to get recognition. At the time I was very young, and he said, “Roy, all you got to do is keep playing music, because the music will speak for itself. Just keep playing music, and it’ll come around to you. It doesn’t matter when it’ll come around to you. You might be 90 years old, but it’ll come around to you. You just gotta stay with it.” I remember that statement; it’s a very true statement, because so many of those guys became famous in the latter years of their life.
AVC: “Running Away” was used in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, right?
RA: Grand Theft Auto, yeah I did that.
AVC: Not only was it used in there, but your voice is also featured in the game.
RA: Yeah, they used my voice on there. They took me to the studio. They called me to do that, and I did it; it was very exciting. I was just trying to say some positive things for young people so they can stay in school. All the good things that you can say to people. Good vibrations and good thoughts to use as guidelines for their life. I was saying things like, “Stay in school, don’t use drugs.” Small kinds of things that can be helpful to those kids that will listen to me and heed to it and understand.
