A good line up to ‘celebrate London’s diversity and opposing racism’ but the biggest name of them all is Roy Ayers. Even though he’s not headlining the event, you know ‘Everyone Loves The Sunshine’, ‘We All Live In Brooklyn’ and ‘Running Away’ are all crowd pleasures.

When Gilles Peterson interviewed him a couple of years ago, Ayers told the story that his trombone-playing father and piano-teaching mother, took the 5-year-old to a concert to meet his hero Lionel Hampton, who gave him his first set of vibe mallets.

Constantly performing and recording since the 1960s, he is the most well-known jazz vibraphonist and there is as much interest in his back catalogue now as there’s ever been. His work with Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (Africa - Centre Of The World) is seminal and there’s even been a recent vinyl re-issue of Stoned Soul Picnic (Note: an incredible line up of Miroslav Vitous and Ron Carter (bass), Grady Tate (drums), Charles Tolliver (Trumpet, Flugelhorn), Herbie Hancock (Piano), Herbert Laws (Flute), Gary Bartz (Saxophone) with Herbie Mann producing).

The interview with Peterson in 2004 was on the release of Virgin Ubiquity: Unreleased Recordings 1976-1981 which were ‘lost’ sessions tapes that he had discarded in his garage. Gilles described this as the equivalent of finding a lost Beatles album and that year, Ayers was awarded Worldwide Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Virgin Ubiquity II: Unreleased Recordings 1976-1981 (Rapster Records/BBE) was released with some accompanying remix CD and 12” packages featuring remix by the likes of King Britt, Kenny Dope and my favourite, Osunlade to name just three.

Osunlade’s remix of ‘Tarzan’ is a modern classic and definitely deserving of a re-issue even if this was originally only last October. Now summer is here, the other tracks are sounding better than before, particularly The Amalgamation of Soundz re-worked, ‘Sunshine’.

Back at Finsbury Park, you’ll also find there’s an Urban Music stage, Big Cuba Fiesta, African Village, Comedy Bus, Children’s Play Zone and lots more. See the website below for further details but it’d be harder to find a better place to be in North London that day, providing there’s Sunshine.

Hectic Mix nomination - Sunshine (The Amalgamation of Soundz Remix)

Reviewed - Roy Ayers - Virgin Ubiquity Remixed EP 2 (Rapster Records) Cat. No. RR0049 EP (2×12”) Re-issue released: June 2006
Tracklisting:
A1. Tarzan (Yoruba Soul Mix by Osunlade)
B1. Tarzan (Yoruba Dub by Osunlade)
B2. Liquid Love (Aloe Blacc Remix)
C1. Funk In The Hole (Platinum Pied Pipers Remix)
C2. Sunshine (The Amalgamation of Soundz Remix)
D1. Funk In The Hole (Nicolay Remix)
D2. Third Time (Jeremy’s Late Night Rub)

Links:
www.risefestival.org
Jazzwise June 2006, Reissues (p 64) review by Keith Shadwick (4 stars). Roy Ayers - Stoned Soul Picnic (Atlantic/Warner Jazz) 0812273588 1 www.jazzwise.com
www.royayers.com