ROY AYERS + DJ PERRY LOUIS – ST. PETER’S CHURCH BRIGHTON 19.8.22
On a sunny Friday night, the ‘This Is The Modern World’ exhibition continued their summer of successful live music events by welcoming American jazz legend and composer Roy Ayers to the beautiful setting of St Peter’s Church in Brighton. Originally planned to take place at the Concorde 2 in April, but pushed back due to health reasons, there was a huge sense of excitement for tonight’s event as fans began to queue for entry at 7pm.
The night opened at 7:30pm with an hour-long set from DJ Perry Louis, known as a legend on the old school jazz and dance scene. DJ Perry’s 25 year career has left him with a collection of over 20,000 records that he showcased to the eager Brighton audience tonight.
I found it fascinating to watch as he chose each vinyl carefully from his enormous collection and began to mix it live on his DJ decks. With a mixture of singles and albums he created the perfect party atmosphere to hype up the crowd ready for the main event.
Roy Ayers started his career in the 1960’s joining the touring band of Herbie Mann. After going solo in the early 1970’s he has released over 30 albums, composed the soundtrack for ‘Coffy’, a 1973 Blaxploitation film starring Pam Grier, toured and recorded with Fela Kuti, produced and released artists such as RAMP, Sylvia Striplin, Bobbi Humphrey, Eighties Ladies and is cited as a major influence by Pharrell Williams and Erykah Badu.
With no breaks between sets, at the early time of 8:30pm Roy’s band, made up of saxophonist/keyboard player, bassist, drummer and backing singer, came to the stage. After a short instrumental introduction the 81 year old musician Roy Ayers made his way onto the stage. Often described as the “Godfather of Neo-Soul’, throughout his almost five decade long career, Roy has always aimed to bridge the gap between generations of music lovers, which was clear in the crowd tonight with fans of all ages loving every minute of the set.
With Roy’s vibraphone playing taking front and centre stage, the set of classic R’n’B and jazz tunes began, including popular hits such as ‘Everybody Loves The Sunshine’ and ‘Running Away’. As expected of a man of his age, Roy often took breaks, giving time to the rest of his band to showcase their talent, including freestyle saxophone solos, bass guitar riffs and even minute-long drum solos. By extending the songs through solos and instrumental breaks, it gave the crowd a new appreciation for Roy’s incredible back catalogue and song writing ability.
The fantastic band kept this electric energy up for the whole set, leaving the crowd on a high and not wanting the night to ever end.
