Roy Ayers: Live at Ronnie Scott's

Rating:
Summary: Ayers - Live and Dangerous In London!
Review: Part of a concert recorded in 1988 at Ronnie Scott's Club in Soho, London, where Ayers has been a long-standing crowd favourite (always selling out the venue) for years.

It features a stellar band, with Ayers on vocals and vibes, the late Zachary Breaux on guitar, and Dwight Gassaway on percussion. A stand-out feature is the old-fashioned, good-natured "cutting contest" between Ayers and Gassaway (no mean vibist himself) on "Battle Of The Vibes", to the audience's obvious delight.

Breaux plays a couple of excellent solos on "I Wanna Touch You" and "Running Away" - bluesy with lots of chorusing and slap-back echo, and more than a nod to George Benson. His playing is without ego, always in _total_ support of the music, and never dominates.

Ayers is in top form, displaying his mastery of vibes, and slips in a couple of jazzy, boppish solos, despite the flimsy nature of some of the material.

The DVD's video and audio quality are both very good, especially considering the age of the material, but there's a brief pause for a layer change which could have been more appropriately placed at the end of a song.

Extras are limited to a running commentary, a "jukebox" for individual track selection (which is a little clumsy) and a review of the concert, and Ayer's history. The running time is a bit short at 55 minutes.

Overall, it's an excellent memento of a group of musicians in concert with complete mastery of their instruments in the jazz/funk/pop genre, and a worthy addition to any such collection.

If you like Roy, buy it. Better still, go and see him live!