Created Memphis Sound, 'Theme From Shaft'
Wil Haygood
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 11, 2008
2:15 PM
Washington Post staff writer Wil Haygood was online Monday, Aug. 11, at 2:15 p.m. ET to discuss the life and work of writer-producer-performer Isaac Hayes who died yesterday at his home in East Memphis, Tenn. Haygood traces his career, from his early days as a sideman for Stax Records to his rise as Black Moses and to his later work in films and on TV as Chef on Comedy Central's South Park.
A transcript follows.
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Wil Haygood: Wil Haygood here and looking forward to chatting about the iconic Isaac Hayes
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Washington, D.C.: Hello and thanks for offering this discussion today. I was touched by the deaths of both entertainers this weekend (Mac and Hayes) though I must say -- my mother (60) seemed more touched by Hayes death and I (40) more impacted by Mac.
I happened to catch several hours of Hayes's music on the radio last night -- and as someone with a vast music collection, I'm a bit baffled as to why I didn't realize this man made so much music -- beyond the theme song to Shaft -- which is a great musical piece and on my office playlist. I didn't know much else about his music -- and he seems to have been phenomenal to so many.
My question is -- why did he not receive more shine (if you will)? Or have I just not been paying attention? I know about Marvin, Smokey, Barry all the other guys of Hayes' era, and I have their music. How did I miss Hayes's work??
Wil Haygood: Interesting question. Hayes, of course, had a stunning career with Stax as a songwriter. Then he broke out and started singing. And then - this cuts right to the bone, I think, of your question - his singing was undercut somewhat by Mr. Barry White. They had similar baritone voices; it was at times confusing to many listeners. I think deejays played a lot of Barry White rather than a lot of Isaac Hayes.
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Fairfax, Va.: Did Hayes like acting more than doing his music? He seemed to do more films and TV in his later years.
Wil Haygood: He liked to act, but directors were not clamoring for him to be in their movies. With all due respect, his acting style was a little wooden. He did do a movie, a so-called blaxpolitation movie, "Truck Turner," that my mother absolutely loved. He was, of course, Truck, and the leading man stature seemed to loosen him up a bit onscreen. You can probably get it at the video store.
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Annapolis, Md.: What would you say Isaac Hayes most important contribution was?
Wil Haygood: He was a direct challenge to the Motown domination of smooth and silky songs. In that regard, he was not unlike Otis Redding. These were southern crooners and they had their own style. It was almost guttural, almost sublime, certainly wicked. And when Hayes donned those chains, that was another potent indication of his paying homage to the realities of history.
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Washington, D.C.: Had Hayes been sick? Seems to me he was recently touring around the country.
Wil Haygood: Yes he had suffered a stroke not too long ago, but it was not a dibilitating stroke. He could still sing. He could still maneuver around a stage.
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Arlington, Va.: Can you go more into the chains and why he wore them and what you think they represented?
Wil Haygood: The chains were symbolic to Hayes. He was raised in Tennessee by his grandmother, who had known former slaves in her own life when she had been a little girl. Hayes listened to her when she talked of her childhood and history. With the dawning of the civil rights movement, the chains were a kind of decorative ornament, albeit with deep meaning. The Afro, the diashiki - cultural ornaments of the times.
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Rosslyn, Va.: Was Hayes a Scientologist?
Wil Haygood: Yes he was a Scientologist, but spent very little time discussing his religion.
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Chantilly, Va.: Hayes wrote for Sam and Dave and other Stax artists, timeless hit singles. He partnered with a guy named David Porter. Can you talk about that relationship?
Wil Haygood: Hayes and Porter knew each other during their teenage years. They were two young Memphis songwriting dreamers. When they both landed at Stax, it was as songwriters. Their music catalogue is rich and wondrous. But Hayes also wanted to stretch and sing. When he started singing - long ballads and intro rap-like interludes on his early albums - the listening public became mesmerized by his voice.
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Washington, D.C.: Former Congressional staffer that got to witness Isaac Hayes sing "A Train" at a Congressional fundraiser at the Monocle. He was an amazing, multi-talented man and to get to see him do jazz was one of my top five moments on Capitol Hill.
Wil Haygood: You talk about Hayes and jazz, which points to the man's mulidimensional music character. If you listen closely to his instrumentals, you certainly get a hint of fusion as well. And of course you know his "By the Time I get to Phoenix" has all kinds of jazz inflections.
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8th and I, NW, Washington, D.C.: I was impressed that Hayes was able to have such a widespread impact, through music, movies, and even TV (South Park). What do you make of the reason he left South Park (his religious beliefs)? It seemed a little childish that he would not put up with some gentle ribbing about an organization (Scientology) that certainly has many questions.
Wil Haygood: Religion is a sacred thing to each man or woman. Those are deep beliefs, and for many, their heart adopts a defiant stance. All one can do is respect that.
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Washington, D.C.: Mr. Haygood, in your story today you write about the "Black Moses" theme. Did Isaac Hayes start out singing in the black church before he made it in the mainstream?
Wil Haygood: Well, his places of operation were a tad off the beaten path of the traditional gospel-rich Southern church: the honky tonk is more like it. Down at the nightclub....
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Washington, D.C.: Is Hayes's take on "Walk On By" THE definitive version? I've heard a number of soul artists cover the tune. The Jo Ann Garrett version is really hard to beat...
Wil Haygood: I remember listening to some jazz show and they were talking about Duke Ellington's verson of some song and someone asked was Duke's version of that record the definitive version. And the jazzman replied, "Oh yeah. Duke closed the door on that one and no one else dare go through it."
So be it with Hayes, I think, and "Walk On By."
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Washington, D.C.: Do you think Isaac Hayes in his Black Moses persona thought he was a prophet?
Wil Haygood: No, not at all. Remember, it was entertainment and he was an entertainer. It was a mood and a style he set up for himself. Prophet? Those cats in those Memphis nightclubs would have laughed him back and forth across the Mississippi River.
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Washington, D.C.: Truly at a lost for words...
I sit here at my desk... with an Isaac Hayes track jacket... I had made 2 years ago... listening to his discography... from Sam and Dave to Disco Connection...
Deeply appreciative and awe-struck at his work... regretting the chance not to see him perform live... and now having to live through the memories my father has of his shows...
I doubt I've gone 3 days straight without playing something from his songbook... or a song derived from... whether a sampled rap song... or a remake...
Hhe was one of the last legends...
Not sure whether it was his rendition of "Walk on By", "Something" or "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"or his expression of "Joy"...
...could have been the way he confessed in "I Stand Accused"...perhaps the way he asked the ladies "Don't Let Go..."whatever it was...he was my favorite of all time...and I'm only 26...
Wil Haygood: Well, that goes to prove the sweep of his cross-generational reach. Of course you are hip to the lines - which I may mangle here but don't mean to: "Once in awhile he won't call...its all in the game..." About a man who won't call, a woman who won't call. Love and heartache; Mr. Hayes could SING.
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Washington, D.C.: Good explanation. Shame though, because Barry White was a vocalist and this man was apparently a real musician's musician. Any purchase recommendations for how I can better explore this legend's great music? I'm sure there's more than one best of collection (or I would think there would be). I hear he had about 15 CDs! Thanks again.
Wil Haygood: Of course "Hot Buttered Soul" is a must; and the "Black Moses" is rich, least of all for its mindbending artwork. I bought the Black Moses album in college; because it flaps out, it was good decoration on my college dorm's room wall.
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McLean, Va.: How did Hayes get the South Park role? Whose stroke of genius caused that to happen?
Wil Haygood: Likely the producers; his voice was so distinct that if you heard it from behind a curtain you'd instantly recognize it.
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Glen Burnie, Md.: I'm a 26-year-old woman who loves Mr. Isaac Hayes. I didn't become a major fan until I heard his version of "I Stand Accused," which consisted of rapping before rapping was cool. The manner in which he spoke on a song before his smooth and telling voice came in singing about love, women and wanting 'someone to love' will never be duplicated. The industry lost a talent yesterday and the world lost a musical genius. Thank you Mr. Hayes for your soul and mind.
Wil Haygood: I dare say Mr. Hayes loves you back. (What is so rich and textured, I think, is how conversational those opening rap moments are. It is like some dude sitting on a couch trying to explain to his sister the depths of his broken heart. It is without artifice, but it becomes art for its lovely simplicity. Indeed, he will be missed.)
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wasingtonpost.com: Isaac Hayes: Unshackled by History's Chains
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Ft. Myers, Va.: Hayes could really wield an orchestra, as exemplified on Shaft. He had the whole sonic thing going on and you are right, it was mesmerizing. Where do critics place his music in the pantheon of soul/disco or whatever classification you would care to put it in?
Wil Haygood: It is painful to many that he did not get the recognition he deserved. He always fought with festival organizers because he insisted on bringing all his musicians with him: flutes, saxes, drums, cellos, violins, the whole orchestra. However, it wasn't naturally what you'd call dance/disco music; it was almost too plaintive. It was - and there are those of you out there who would testify - certainly slow dancing-in-the-basement music.
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Annapolis, Md.: I stand behind no one in my admiration for Mr. Hayes, but Barry White was not "just a vocalist"; he was a producer, composer, and arranger as well (Love Unlimited Orchestra, etc.).
I suspect that Mr. Hayes's relatively diminished presence on radio is due to these two things: (a) he wrote and produced a lot of pop records, but performed very few, preferring longer works; (b) his connection to black-power politics frightened many DJs and stations.
Wil Haygood: I almost bought this exact point up in my last reply: That BOTH Barry White and Isaac Hayes had and loved their big orchestras. And of course you can't lead a orchestra of that size without having major music gifts. And you are right about his time spent on songwriting; it took him off the airwaves because he was not making albums every year or so.
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Washington, D.C.: Great tribute Mr Haygood. Q: The caption of the photo of Isaac Hayes onstage with Jesse Jackson referenced a documentary, "Wattstax." Is the title a combination of Watts/Los Angeles and Stax Records? What was the relationship?
Wil Haygood: I don't know the exact commercial links, but it was a musical extravaganza in Los Angeles that stunned music writers for its raw power and accumulated gathering of artists.
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Washington, D.C.: Many of the obituaries I read describe Hayes as a sort of progenitor of rappers, which I can definitely hear. I'm curious though about how his work in the 70s laid the musical groundwork for a lot of modern-day hip-hop songs (or trip-hop as it were -- I'm thinking of Portishead here). What were his opinions on sampling? Did he benefit at all financially from the use of his music in hip-hop tracks?
Wil Haygood: Many of the current musicians who admired him - especially those from the hip-hop scene - were knocked out by his orchestrations. He had a "wah wah" thing going with the guitar; listen to the opening beats of "Shaft" and you get that cool-slick thumping. It struck many at the time as quite original. Musicians paid him flattery by trying to emulate that sound.
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wasingtonpost.com: Wattstax ( PBS/POV)
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Baltimore, Md.: For the poster who wondered why he wasn't familiar with more of Hayes's music; Hayes was a staff writer at Stax early in his career, so the songs he created were made famous by other people (such as "Hold On, I'm Comin'" by Sam and Dave). Stax is a fascinating story -- a company in which blacks and whites worked side by side to create a uniquely distinctive style of soul. There's a great documentary on the company that shows up on public TV during pledge time. I think it explains a lot about Hayes and his music.
Wil Haygood: You are absolutely right. The powers at Stax decided to give Hayes and other songwriters there more leverage as they turned out hit after hit after hit. The record company also represented a kind of hint at racial harmony, something that was all too rare in the American South in the early days of Stax.
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Washington, D.C.: Thanks for your tribute today, Mr. Haygood. The Lorraine Motel...due to my age I only knew of this landmark in connection with the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. You reference that moment in history as well as another reputation that the hotel carried -- a place where famous entertainers would stay. Am I right?
Wil Haygood: Oh yes. It was a place hospitable to blacks traveling in the South.
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Washington, D.C.: Will there be a memorial or funeral?
Wil Haygood: Oh I'm sure there will be. A friend told me yesterday that he ran into Hayes over in Europe not long ago; his fans are worldwide. And musicians have long respected his reach and even genius.
I will be signing off now and thank you all for tuning in to chat about the man who wore the chains with such a stylish flair and sang to all who would listen in the midnight hour.
Best Wil
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