Roy Ayers Ubiquity recorded ‘He’s Coming’ in 1972 his second album for the Polydor label.
Although it was relatively overlooked at the time, it has become Roy’s most in demand albums over the last 35 years . It includes his definitive much sampled classic ‘We Live In Brooklyn Baby’ written by Harry Whitaker who plays electric piano throughout and co arranged the album.
‘He’s A Superstar’ is another funky Jazz jam whose lyrics are still sadly very relevant nearly 55 years later. ‘Ain’t Got Time’ is a beautiful shuffling mid tempo groove. The original version of ‘Sweet Tears’ is taken at a slower pace than the more famous late 70s version, but shows why it is one of Roy’s most popular compositions, and features a great vibes solo. ‘Fire Weaver’ is a strong funky Jazz instrumental that struts along nicely with great vibes playing, both these latter tracks he also recorded with David Newman around the same period. As always
Roy is accompanied by great musicians as well as Whitaker, Billy Cobham, Sonny Fortune, Ron Carter are amongst those appealing on this strong album, whose title was a prophecy to Roy’s ascendancy as one of the greats of our music and the Jazz Funk sub genre in particular.
In case you missed any, here’s a link to some of the warehouse finds we’ve been digging out lately.
