I was thinking about my first ever concert at Ronnie Scotts in London. My London tourist guide recommended the venue for Jazz, so I got a ticket. But I had no idea who Roy Ayers was, until he played “Everybody Loves The Sunshine”, which rang a bell.
It was a great gig. Loud, passionate and with a great band. Ayers cracked some jokes and Ronnie himself added a few in the interval. The thing I liked about him was that he didn’t take himself too seriously up there on stage that night.
RIP. I am sure you’ll get lots of sunshine where you are now.
Roy Ayers did a gig at The Trafalgar Tavern pub in Greenwich, must have been early 2000’s. A handful of us managed to get tickets to see him.
The picture below is a mural of the man himself. I took this photo in 2019. The mural is on the side of a building in Brockley, South London.
If that gig was in 1990 or 1991, there’s a fair chance I was there too. I remember it well - a group of six of us went, and the place was rocking – Roy put on a stunning show!
Very sad . I have some albums of him and play them regularly.
Those great musicians from the 70’s jazz era are more and more rare today , as many passed away: Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Johnny Hammond Smith, Dr Lonnie Smith, Isaac Hayes, Joe Henderson….
Herbie Hancock, Billy Cobham , Chick Corea, and John Mc Laughin still alive.
Only just catching up with this. Remember seeing him around the same time, thought it was Deptford but Greenwich is pretty close. Hope some of you caught up with the tributes from Gilles Peterson, sharing lots of the love for the great man RIP Roy, “He’s A Superstar” Ayres.
