Search - Roy Ayers :: Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival

An unappreciated gem

The Delite Rancher | Phoenix, Arizona | 08/26/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"When many serious jazz listeners think about jazz from the 60's and 70's, they are often filled with a sense of embarrassment. This happens when such listeners reflect on the many painfully dated projects that sought to embrace that period's commercial currents of rock and pop. While this may generally be the case, Roy Ayers' Ubiquity at Montreaux is an exception. While released in 1972, the disc sounds like it was recorded in the late 1960's. While it employs many of the devices and assumptions of fusion, this is very much so 'real jazz.' This stands as a testament to that which was great about jazz in the late 60's and early 70's. It is free, wide open, filled with joy and some great mind altering sounds. Pulled from Miles Davis' 1969 album, 'In A Silent Way' is the track that may best represent the music contained on "Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival." Anyone who enjoyed the music from Miles Davis' album by the same name will enjoy this obscure Ayers release. The twelve minute song is performed in a way that gives the original justice. Like 'Daddy Bug,' most of the songs are instrumental, sublime and deeply satisfying. The instrumentals are the best songs while the two songs with vocals ('Move To Groove' and 'He Give Us All His Love') are tolerable. 'Raindrops Keep Falln' On My Head' in particular features stellar improvisation on the vibes. Granted, the vibraphone never broke into mainstream psychedelia. For those who always thought there was something trippy about Lionel Hampton, this disc is for you. Here, Ayers shows the vibes' psychedelic potential. As a testament to that which was righteous and forgotten about the 70's "Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival" stands as a lost classic.

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