Jazz Articles about Isaac Hayes

Isaac Hayes: Truck Turner

by Richard J Salvucci
January 17, 2025

If a listener has not seen the film “Truck Turner," (1974) there is perhaps no way that any of this review can make sense. And, alas, if you have seen “Truck Turner," there is little anything anyone can do to help. This is a movie that was part of a subgenre, Blaxploitation movies, that could scarcely be screened today. Every other word or scene is an obscenity, an N-word, or a racial stereotype that is not likely to go down ...

The Holy Trinity of Soul: Three Craft Reissues

by C. Andrew Hovan
May 13, 2018

Last fall, Craft Recordings issued a four CD compilation focusing on Isaac Hayes and his recordings for Stax, Volt, and Enterprise. Spanning the years 1962 to 1976, the set cut a wide swathe of Southern soul and managed to put into perspective the importance of Hayes' impressive oeuvre. Now, Craft turns its attention to upscale vinyl reissues of Hayes' most important recordings, namely Hot Buttered Soul, Shaft , and Black Moses. With new remastering undertaken by Dave Cooley at Elysian ...

Isaac Hayes: Shaft

by Trevor MacLaren
July 3, 2006

Isaac HayesShaftStax Records1971 “Who's that black private dick who's a sex machine with all the chicks? Shaft! Damn right!... The opening lines to Isaac Hayes' score for the seminal 1971 movie, Shaft, sound like a camp put-on today--but in the early '70s they were about as camp as the Black Panthers. Black sexuality and black pride were explosive issues in an America where the hardcore, fundamentalist ...

Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It?

by Jim Santella
November 10, 2005

We've all been exposed to the music of Isaac Hayes. His film soundtracks and jazz-tinged funk have had their effect. Today he's also known for his role as a school cafeteria worker in the animated television series South Park. A leading romantic icon in the popular music world, he's given Stax Records a pile of great albums that blend jazz with blues and rock. Included in this two-CD set are tracks from several albums: Black Moses, Shaft, Presenting Isaac Hayes, ...

Isaac Hayes: Isaac Hayes at Wattstax

by C. Michael Bailey
April 17, 2003

A Hot August Night in the Valley.

Once upon a dream, in a galaxy far, far away, Isaac Hayes stood not as the vocal track for a silly cable TV cartoon sporting human stool as a character, but as the finest singer/songwriter/musician American music had to offer. Before establishing himself as a top solo draw, Hayes was instrumental in the composition of such soul and R&B classics as "Soul Man," "Hold On, I’m Comin’," and "When Something is ...