I wonder if it’s now possible to imagine how alien the wah-wah in “Theme from Shaft” once sounded? When I was 12 or 13, a friend and I spent an afternoon listening to it over and over trying to figure out how that sound was made.

When I went through the period when I aggressively hunted the soundtracks for blaxploitation films, I discovered another few of musicians who defined the form – Willie Hutch number one among them – but other Isaac Hayes soundtracks became more important to me than that of Shaft, particularly the soundtrack for Truck Turner (sold as a two-disc set with the lesser Three Tough Guys). While most of the soundtrack artists thought really well in short bursts – evocative car chase snippets, slightly longer seduction slow jams – Hayes’ tracks sustained their mood while developing melodies or grooves.

My only experience seeing Hayes live was at Jazz Fest in 2005, when he played the Congo Square stage on the final Sunday opposite the Neville Brothers. I opted for the Nevilles, but after their show, Hayes was still onstage so I stopped to see him. The show went on until 7:30, with the stage manager almost apoplectic trying to signal for him to stop. And he didn’t simply drift overtime. He played another few songs and settled into “I Stand Accused” (I think – it was definitely a slow jam) as if we had a whole night ahead of us. When he finally got to “Theme from Shaft,” it still sounded alien in its way, but also big and lush. It didn’t evoke driving to a showdown at night on rainy, city streets, but that’s because there was a band to look at instead. Otherwise, the song survived the translation to the stage better than I expected. 

Final random Hayes thought for now – I was surprised this morning that Hayes story from The Washington Post this morning omitted the stroke he suffered a few years ago. When a guy’s found dead by a treadmill, that seems like the sort of information that might prove relevant.