Monday, August 11, 2008

Isaac Hayes was a baaaaad mutha (R.I.P.)

Posted by T. Ballard Lesemann on Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 12:12 PM

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It was sad to hear of the passing of soul man Isaac Hayes this weekend — especially on the heels of the death of another brilliantly talented African-American performer, Bernie Mac. Hayes died in Memphis on Sun. Aug. 10. He was 65.

Hayes may be best known by younger pop culturists as the voice of “Chef” from Comedy Central’s South Park series, but in the music world, he was revered as a skilled multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, actor, and studio engineer. He was a Memphis star who rose to great heights early on with the Bar Kays and the Stax label, where he composed for other artists and tracked on a variety of sessions. His husky, deep-toned voice was instantly recognizable.

I first took notice of Hayes as a very young kid in the late ’70s by way of my Uncle Bill’s record collection. Most of it consisted of various rock and funk LPs — T. Rex, Toto, Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Edgar Winter, etc. But three Isaac Hayes albums grabbed my eyes and ears: Hot Buttered Soul, Black Moses, and the original soundtrack to Shaft. All three featured Hayes and his bald noggin and wide-framed shades, looking very, very cool.

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Released in 1969, Hot Buttered Soul was major influence for the soul music makers of the early and mid ’70s. More of an orchestrated collection of pieces than a pop/funk album, Hayes and his ensemble of vocalists and players laid down lengthy jams and busy arrangements, replete with brass, winds, and strings. There was a funky song titled “Hyperbolicsyllabicsequedalymistic,” too.

The 1971 double-album Black Moses depicted Hayes as a biblical figure, decked out in robes,

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chains — and the cool shades, too. The music included rearrangement and renditions of older soul and R&B standards as well as some complex original pieces with a few spoken-word raps and even fancier horn arrangements. The artwork featured liner notes explaining the mythology of the Black Moses character.

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On the cover of the Shaft album — the hard-grooving soundtrack to the “blaxpoitation” flick starring Richard Roundtree — Hayes looks like one of the characters in the movie. The theme song is a classic — working off a rhythm in 4/4, propelled by endless 16th notes on wha-wha guitar and on high-hat cymbals. “Who’s the black private dick that’s a sex machine to all the chicks?” Hayes asked in the first verse of the Grammy-winning tune. “Shaft!” responded a chorus of babes. “You’re damn right,” he adds. “You see this cat Shaft is a baaaaad mutha…” he starts up. “Shut your mouth!” they interrrupt. Classic, cool, groovy stuff.

For more on Hayes' early career and rise to fame and prominence, check out the well-made documentary film Respect Yourself: The Stax Story, written by filmmaker and author Robert Gordon. It debuted on PBS last year.

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