Tristan James Johns

I was saddened to hear news of the passing of Roy Ayers. My thoughts are with his family at this time. I pray you’re all getting through this in good health, together.

When I heard the news, I was reminded of one of his songs, ‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine,’ and how it helped me through one of the challenging times in my life. The heart that Mr Roy Ayers was able to project into that song is almost like a kind of enlightenment.

In a similar sense to the title of Longchen Rabjampa’s Treasury of Natural Perfection: ‘Old Man Basking in the Sun,’ won’t you agree that the sunlight smiles through the funk and into our moment?

By chance I found the song around Christmas time that year. In Australia it is a sunny time of year, and I remembered how our ancestors celebrated the new sun in the northern hemisphere as they prayed for an answer to another winter. In a way, I am always not far from playing this song again. If I think of sunny songs, I think of Roy Ayers. 

Many geniuses of that age in music, always hold a place of gratitude in my heart for the part they have played in making my spiritual path so blessed. Rest in Peace, Roy Ayers.