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November 2010

Roy Ayers gives all the credit to his mother.

“When I was five, she took me to the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles to see Lionel Hampton. I thought I was going to be Lionel Hampton.” Ayers said. Hampton, the legendary jazz bandleader and vibraphonist, saw this wide-eyed kid near the stage, and gave him his mallets.

“After that, that’s all I wanted to do, be Lionel Hampton. Later I figured out I could not be him, but I could be me, playing the vibes. He was the best, now I’m the second best.”

Sixty-five years later, Ayers is the self-proclaimed King of the Vibes, (the name of his new album) and he is still breaking new ground in music.

“Well, I love music, and I believe that music loves me,” Ayers told the Defender. “Music is my escape, even when there isn’t any escape.” Now, at 70 (on Sept. 10), Ayers said he doesn’t see any reason to slow down. “I’ve always thought that 70 was an old number, but I hit 70 and I don’t feel old.”

Ayers laments the fact that there are fewer venues to perform for jazz artists and that radio stations have little use for jazz, especially the jazz artists he has performed with.

“I think that many of the radio stations are programming less jazz than before,” said Ayers. “It is important that the people in the community speak up and tell them they want to hear – the music is what I call Black Jazz, not white jazz. Lot of stations are programming our brothers out,” he said, noting musicians like Lonnie Liston Smith, Ronnie Laws, Browne and others.

Ayers also wants there to be more appreciation for the musicians that he grew up listening to, like Hampton.

“We have to speak up. We have to remember all the blood and sweat that has been shed by these great musicians,” said Ayers. “Almost all of those musicians that created all that music are dead. Ellington, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, Miles. There are not more than ten guys left in the world who played that music – Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver, James Moody, Benny Golson. We mustn’t let these other stations do that, trying to rename the new jazz stars. We’ll look around and they’ll have a picture of Duke Ellington, and he’ll be white. Must not let our great musical heritage die.”

Ayers also doesn’t want the vibraphone to die as a jazz instrument. He says there are some good young people who have made their mark with the instrument. “ New guy, Stefon Harris, is exceptionally good, exceptionally talented,” said Ayers. “He doesn’t sound anything like me. But maybe these new people should start sounding like me, in order to be successful,” he laughed.

http://www.chicagodefende...ov-13.html

Thanks for posting this Id'.

It's tragic to me that Jazz has all been wiped off the face of the radio map. I thought satellite radio would be it's savior but satellite music programming has been myopic. What's ironic, it's been my experience most of my uploaded videos for You Tube that have been blocked, are Jazz.

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[Edited 11/15/10 14:17pm]

TD3 said:

Thanks for posting this Id'.

It's tragic to me that Jazz has all been wiped off the face of the radio map. I thought satellite radio would be it's savior but satellite music programming has been myopic. What's ironic, it's been my experience that most of my uploaded videos that have been blocked has been Jazz.

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[Edited 11/14/10 18:16pm]

There's 2 jazz stations where I live, one is a college run radio station plays all kinds of jazz and the other is a "smooth" jazz station called The Wave. But a lot of the stuff on the Wave isn't jazz at all like Smokey Robinson, B.B. King, and Huey Lewis. I could see maybe some jazzy R&B or pop like Sade, but a lot of their playlist is a stretch and not much different than the Adult Contemporary station, lol.

Great interview! It's nice to see that he is staying true to his jazz roots and not embarassing himself by working with rappers and releasing horrible covers of his old hits Unlike some artists,he has alot of artistic integrity.

Look how Roy is showing appreication for REAL artists,while Quincy bends over backwards to praise folks like Ludacris and T-Pain

SoulAlive said:

Ayers also wants there to be more appreciation for the musicians that he grew up listening to, like Hampton.

“We have to speak up. We have to remember all the blood and sweat that has been shed by these great musicians,” said Ayers. “Almost all of those musicians that created all that music are dead. Ellington, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, Miles. There are not more than ten guys left in the world who played that music – Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver, James Moody, Benny Golson.

Look how Roy is showing appreication for REAL artists,while Quincy bends over backwards to praise folks like Ludacris and T-Pain

Yeah I'm angry with Quincy about that mess, he can do so much better

Saw this cat a few months ago live. They tore the joint up.......2 plus hours of nonstop jams.

Graycap23 said:

Saw this cat a few months ago live. They tore the joint up.......2 plus hours of nonstop jams.

I wanna go to a show like that.