vibraphone

On “Rated OG,” he adds intriguing curlicue accents to a chord progression rendered on vibraphone as a forceful, distorted bass riff chugs along underneath.

They became his weapon of choice after picking up the vibraphone as a Thomas Jefferson High School student at age 17.

Ayers began playing the piano at the age of five and went on to play several instruments and sing in the church choir before plumping for the vibraphone.

When Puts reaches for percussion instruments, he chooses the sweeter ones — glockenspiel, crotales, chimes, vibraphone — and combines them luxuriously.

It was probably the drone on the vibraphone and the birdlike chirping on flutes that induced me into a trance.