He's Coming (Verve Vault): Vinyl LP

Label: Verve
Release Date: 10th July

Master vibesman Roy Ayer’s ‘He’s Coming’ is everything you could want from an early 70s jazz funk album, super cool blaxploitation cinematic basslines and breaks, spoken word moments with soul girl group backing. It’s the kind of record you pop on and makes you feel like the coolest motherjeffer on the planet rather than the record collecting dweebs we are who fawn over mid-century furniture and Japanese denim.

Released on Polydor in 1972, He’s Coming captures vibraphonist Roy Ayers at a creative apex, as Ubiquity’s sound settled into the blend of jazz improvisation, funk rhythm, soul harmony, and spiritual import that would define his work throughout the decade. Emerging at the start of the 1970s, the album reflects Ayers’s deepening move toward a groove-centred musical language rooted in soul-jazz and early jazz-funk. The vibraphonist, keyboardist, composer, and bandleader is supported by a core ensemble that includes Harry Whitaker on electric piano, organ, and vocals; John Williams on bass, with Ron Carter featured on ‘We Live in Brooklyn, Baby’; David Lee Jr. and Billy Cobham on drums and percussion; guitarists Sam Brown and Bob Fusco; saxophonist Sonny Fortune; and percussionist Juma Santos. Tracks like ‘He’s a Superstar’, ‘Sweet Butterfly of Love’, and ‘Fire Weaver’ embody the record’s mix of urban narrative, spiritual reflection, and deep rhythmic momentum — qualities that would later make Ayers’s catalogue a source of inspiration for soul, funk, hip-hop, and neo-soul artists.

Tracklist:
He's A Superstar
He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother
Ain't Got Time
I Don't Know How To Love Him
He's Coming
We Live In Brooklyn Baby
Sweet Butterfly Of Love
Sweet Tears
Fire Weaver