SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Jazz-funk pioneer Roy Ayers died earlier this week after a long illness. He was 84 years old. NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento has the story.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: Roy Ayers started vibing early. Here's a story he liked to tell. When he was 5 years old, his family took him to a concert by the vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. Ayers grooved so hard that Hampton handed him his first pair of mallets. When Ayers himself took up the vibes, it was in LA's hard bop scene in the 1960s.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROY AYERS SONG, "STONED SOUL PICNIC")
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: He mixed jazz improvisation with sunlit funk grooves and bright horns. In 1976, he struck gold with the song "Everybody Loves The Sunshine."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EVERYBODY LOVES THE SUNSHINE")
ROY AYERS UBIQUITY: (Singing) My life, my life, my life, my life in the sunshine. Everybody loves the sunshine.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Ayers spoke about his signature hit decades later on a TV interview with U.K. journalist Sonya Saul.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ROY AYERS: I was inspired by my upbringing in Los Angeles, California, when there was no smog. And that's what really inspired me to compose that song.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Ayers, in turn, inspired generations. "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" alone has been sampled more than a hundred times. Ayers also collaborated with younger artists like Tyler, The Creator.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FIND YOUR WINGS")
TYLER, THE CREATOR: (Singing) Hey, you, what you doing, and why you running? Supposed to fly and take control 'cause you're the pilot.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: In a PBS interview, Tyler said he grew up listening to Ayers' music, and he was honored to work with someone he considered a legend.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TYLER, THE CREATOR: I sent him the song I wanted him on. And he called me and was just like, oh, young man. Oh, Tyler, these changes, they cold, man. These chords are cold.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Roy Ayers kept the vibes going, collaborating and releasing new music until the last decade of his life. Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EVERYBODY LOVES THE SUNSHINE")
ROY AYERS UBIQUITY: (Singing) My life, my life, my life, my life in the sunshine. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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