Isaac Hayes wrote “Do Your Thing” for the soundtrack to Gordon Parks’ 1971 blaxploitation film Shaft. Hayes initially wanted to be cast in the movie but Parks sent footage for him to write music for and gave him a cameo. Parks and MGM liked the first few songs Hayes composed for the movie and they eventually hired him to score the whole film. The soundtrack was released in 1971 and was the first double album of original music from a Black artist. It was five years before Stevie Wonder’s Songs In The Key of Life and four before Earth, Wind & Fire’s Gratitude. Shaft hit number one on the Billboard 100 and R&B Albums chart, went platinum within a month, and won two Grammys for Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical, and Best Instrumental Arrangement. Hayes became the first Black person to win an Oscar in a non-acting category for the theme song from Shaft that won for Best Original Song.

Shaft made a way for soul music to feature prominently in movies and it would only be a year later when Gordon Parks Jr. would hire Curtis Mayfield to create the soundtrack to Super Fly. In 2019, a remastered version of Shaft was released with 22 bonus tracks. Hayes recorded 20 solo albums, more than six collaboration albums with Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and more, and had appeared in over 50 films and television shows by the time of his passing in 2008. He rose from being a storied songwriter with partner David Porter at Stax Records into a blueprint for the soul star. On August 14th, HUF will release its capsule collection of Hayes’ merchandise. 

 

https://youtu.be/FAjCOWHUGM8?si=0bEQ-1DJ4ZhViTVz

Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. is an HBO original documentary about the record label that helped shape the course of American music in the ’60s and ’70s. Jamila Wignot is the producer and director of the four-part series which is a production of Laylow Pictures and White Horse Pictures in association with Concord Originals, Polygram Entertainment, and Warner Music Entertainment. Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Johnnie Taylor, Booker T. & The M.G.’s and Wilson Pickett are some of the artists who called Stax home.

Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton founded the label in 1957 as Satellite Records. By 1961 the name was changed to Stax. Rufus Thomas and his daughter Carla created the label’s first regional hit with “Cause I Love You” in 1961. Otis Redding put Stax in the national spotlight in the early ’60s thanks to “These Arms Of Mine” and “Respect” which Aretha Franklin made her own. At the height of the label’s success, their artists commemorated the Watts Rebellion by playing the 1972 Wattstax benefit concert. 

The label’s story is told through archival footage and insight from the founders, singer Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Stax’s director of publicity; David Porter, Booker T. Jones, Stax singer and songwriter; Sam Moore, and more. Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. will debut on Monday, May 20th at 9 PM ET on HBO with the first two episodes.  Episodes three and four will air the next day at the same time. 

 

 

Isaac Hayes’ soundtrack to Gordon Parks’ 1971 Shaft is being reissued in a deluxe version with liner notes from Questlove. The movie was one of the backbones to the blaxploitation film era. Hayes’ theme song for the film won an Academy award and proved to be the only competition to Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly score. The reissue is remastered and limited to 5,000 copies. Melvin Van Peebles’ Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song was considered by some as the independent pioneer of the blaxploitation movement when his film debuted in April in 1971. But Shaft was definitely the movie to bring the genre to the mainstream when it hit theaters in June of 1971.

The music from the film’s score and the album were not the same. The first songs were a series of instrumentals Hayes recorded at MGM’s studios in California. He returned to his base in Memphis and re-recorded the music at the Stax studios and those recordings became Shaft—Music From The Soundtrack.  The music heard in the film was released in a 2008 limited edition box set. The deluxe reissue will be the first time that both collections of songs are packaged together. Questlove notes, 

“Hayes was a specialist at mood music, in the sense that he knew how to employ orchestration and tempo to elicit emotions from his listening audience. ‘Bumpy’s Lament’ is sad and contemplative, a perfect match for Gunn’s gangster, worried about the fate of his daughter. ‘Walk to Regio’s’ approximates downtown energy with a pulsing bass and a chirping guitar that opens up into a fully orchestrated section. ‘Do Your Thing’ is another straightforward song, brassy and sultry.”

Isaac Hayes was already a hit songwriter for Stax and had become a solo star with the breakthrough album Hot Buttered Soul in 1969. Isaac Hayes was at the apex of his creativity and his performance of the theme at the 1972 Academy Awards ceremony is one of the most memorable. He also had a cameo in the film as a bartender. Parks’ Shaft became a trilogy of films including Shaft’s Big Score (1972) and Shaft In Africa (1973) the latter which was directed by John Guillermin. John Singleton rebooted the franchise in 2000 with Samuel L. Jackson in the role of John Shaft. Jackson returns in the sequel to the 2000 film on June 14th which is the same day the reissue will be released but it can be pre-ordered from Stax. 

[youtube id=”lPE3C0GpDoA”]

 

Isaac Hayes’ Black Moses, Hot Buttered Soul and Shaft will be remastered and reissued on vinyl February 23rd from Craft Recordings. All three albums are classics from Hayes’ prime period of creativity and established him as a pro-Black soul pioneer. Black Moses will include a reproduction of the original poster of Hayes as Black Moses.

The reissues are a part of the year-long celebration of Stax’s 60th anniversary. Isaac Hayes: The Spirit Of Memphis (1962-1976) 4 CD box set was released in 2017 to acknowledge Hayes’ contributions as a songwriter, producer and performer.

Engineer Dave Cooley talks about remastering the albums below. The reissues will be available from Amazon and local retailers.

[youtube id=”Wt_o0xB0ryk”]