NEW YORK (AP) — Roy Ayers, a legendary jazz vibraphonist, keyboardist, composer and vocalist recognized for his spacy, funky 1976 hit “All people Loves the Sunshine” that has been sampled by such R&B and rap heavyweights as Mary J. Blige, N.W.A., Dr. Dre, 2Pac, Mos Def and Ice Dice, has died. He was 84.
The Ayers household stated in a Fb submit that he died Tuesday in New York Metropolis after affected by a protracted sickness. “He lived a lovely 84 years and will likely be sorely missed,” it stated.
Ayers had 12 albums land within the Billboard 200 album charts, the best being “You Ship Me” in 1978 at No. 48. His “The Better of Roy Ayers” spend 50 weeks on the Up to date Jazz Album chart.
His music by no means went out of fashion, showing within the 2019 “Queen & Slim: The Soundtrack.” His music “Operating Away” propelled A Tribe Referred to as Quest’s 1989 opus “Description of a Idiot,” and the music was sampled by Large Daddy Kane and Frequent. Ayers was heard on Tyler, the Creator’s album “Cherry Bomb” and Erykah Badu’s “Mama’s Gun.”
“Effectively, I’ve extra sampled hits than anyone,” he stated in a 2004 interview with Wax Poetics journal. “I may not have extra samples than James Brown, however I’ve had extra sampled hits. Oh, man, and there’s a couple of I don’t learn about.”
Considered one of Ayers’ hottest albums was “Lifeline,” which peaked at No. 9 on what has grow to be the Prime R&B/Hip-hop chart in 1977 and contained the hit “Operating Away,” which peaked at No. 19 on the R&B chart and have become a large membership hit.
Throughout a go to to Johannesburg in 2017, Ayers supplied some rhythmic recommendation for youth within the metropolis’s Soweto space: Get severe, be impressed, rap on, carry on and “finally you’ll get it.”
“You guys, it’s a must to decide your plateau. Get severe about every little thing,” stated Ayers. He additionally named a couple of musicians who’ve impressed him: Nigerian Fela Kuti (“he was actually like a genius”), Herbie Mann (“he taught me the enterprise”) and Miles Davis (“He was the best. He was the grandmaster. He was out of sight”).
After debuting on file with laborious bop tenor saxophonist Curtis Amy’s group in 1962, he teamed with jazz flutist Mann to file three albums for Atlantic Data — “Virgo Vibes,” “Stoned Soul Picnic” and “Daddy Bug” — and wrote and produced the soundtrack for the blaxploitation movie “Coffy” starring Pam Grier. He additionally moved on to work with David “Fathead” Newman, the tenor mainstay of Ray Charles’ nice ’60s orchestra.
In 2017, he appeared alongside such acts as Tom Petty, the Shins, Alabama Shakes, Charles Bradley and William Bell on the eclectic Arroyo Seco Competition in Los Angeles.
Ayers is survived by his spouse Argerie, and their youngsters Mtume and Ayana Ayers.
