Soul-Jazz legend Roy Ayers releases incredible new album on Jazz Is Dead
Soul-jazz legend Roy Ayers, who made his mark in the seventies and early eighties with classic recordings like He’s Coming, Ubiquity, Red Black & Green, Vibrations, Everybody Loves The Sunshine, and so many others, has teamed up with Los Angeles based producers/multi-instrumentalists Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (of also Tribe Called Quest) to release a brand new album on the newly formed Jazz Is Dead label.
Recorded back in February 2018 at Younge’s Linear Labs studio, while the rightfully declared “Godfather of Neo-Soul” performed four sold out shows in Los Angeles as part of the Jazz Is Dead Black History Month series, this incredible album features eight new original tracks written collaboratively by Ayers, Younge, and Muhammad. The music truly captures the spirit of Ayers’ classic material from the seventies while still sounding fresh, fusing together jazz-funk grooves with warm sunny soulful melodies and feel-good vibes.
The session also features spiritual jazz masters Phil Ranelin and Wendell Harrison of Detroit’s legendary Tribe label, as well as drummer Greg Paul, and a number of backing vocalists including Loren Oden, Joy Gilliam, Saudia Yasmein, Elgin Clark, and Anitra Castleberry.
This is the second release of the multi-part Jazz Is Dead series, with a compilation, featuring Ayers and many other music legends, released digitally (and later this summer on vinyl) earlier this year.
Overall, a truly mind-blowing recording, and arguably Roy Ayers’ best recording in almost 40 years, sitting up there with some of his greatest work.
Roy Ayers, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad — ‘JID 002’
(Jazz Is Dead)
- Synchronize Vibration
- Hey Lover
- Soulful and Unique
- Shadows of The East
- Sunflowers
- Gravity
- Solace
- African Sounds
