Hot Buttered Soul in Heaven

from The Root

From his days as a behind-the-scenes songwriter, a look back at the man who single-handedly changed the sound of soul music.

An Ode to Hot Buttered Genius
by Mark Anthony Neal | TheRoot.com

Aug. 11, 2008--That the career of Isaac Hayes could be neatly packaged into two generationally specific cultural touchpoints like Shaft and the Comedy Central animated series South Park says volumes about the man's longevity. But the timeless soundtrack that Hayes produced in support of Gordon Parks' groundbreaking blaxploitation film, the animated character of Chef (a hammer-like nod to that same film) and the later controversy surrounding Hayes' Scientology-related departure from South Park, provide little context for the genius of the man. At his peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Isaac Hayes' music and image embodied the potency and vibrancy of blackness during one of the most tumultuous eras in American history.

Perhaps the best measure of Isaac Hayes' social and political importance may be glimpsed in an incident in 1972 at the Wattstax music festival at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Modeled on Woodstock, Wattstax was designed to give something back to the black community, especially Watts, in the aftermath of the 1965 riots.

Black music mogul Al Bell and a young Rev. Jesse Jackson came to the concert to expound on the virtues of black politics and black business. But it was clear that the most important person to hit the stage that day was Black Moses, aka Isaac Hayes, who served as the closing act.

Writing about WattStax in his new book, In Search of the Black Fantastic: Politics and Popular Culture in the Post-Civil Rights Era, Richard Iton observed: "Toward the end of the concert as Jackson passed the microphone to Hayes after introducing him, there was an exchange of words between the two. It was unclear what was said, but what was apparent was that Hayes, the show's headliner, had the power, and Jackson looked a bit resentful that that was the case."

Iton's comments are a reminder of how significant a figure Hayes was to black America, despite recent caricatures of him.

Hayes was never comfortable being referred to as "Black Moses," calling the term sacrilegious, but at least on that day in 1972, it was not only true; it was the Gospel.

Read the Full Tribute @

***

Also See Oliver Wang's Soul Sides Tribute

Lalah Hathaway: Soul Sister

Amid a sea of rump-shaking R&B starlets, Lalah Hathaway shines with herbrand of grown-woman soul.

Sister Soul
By Mark Anthony Neal | TheRoot.com

June 9, 2008--For much of her musical career and indeed her life, Lalah Hathaway's legendary last name likely mattered most to the people who encountered her. There was a novelty to Hathaway's debut recording in 1990-the daughter of a legendary soul singer makes good-though 18 years and four recordings later-Hathaway is a fully-grown woman who can stand on her
own musically. Self Portrait, marks Hathaway first recording since Outrun the Sky (2004) and also her first recording from the newly-revamped Stax recording label.

Given Stax's singular position as a great-if not the greatest-soul label, it is only fitting that the daughter of the late Donny Hathaway, whose music trafficked in a range of musical genres including gospel and blues, would find a recording home there. "It's really cool," Hathaway says of her relationship with the new Stax, "I'm excited just being mentioned in the same breath of such an iconic legendary label that is just synonymous with\ the concept of soul music all over the world."

On the new record, Hathaway pairs with producer Rex Rideout on most of the tracks. Rideout also produced Hathaway's earlier version of Luther Vandross' "Forever, For Always, For Love" which appeared on Outrun the Sky and the Forever, For Always, For Luther smooth jazz tribute to the late Vandross. Hathaway is quite happy with the work she did with Rideout noting that, "Right now for me, he's the cat." According to the singer, Rideout was able to "get things out of me that I did not know were there yet. And it's not by forcing or prodding-there was an ease working with him that I hadn't felt with a producer before."

Additionally as the recording's title suggest, Self Portrait, is the first recording that Hathaway has done in which she could control every aspect of the process. In that sense, the recording offers more of a glimpse into the woman, who as a little girl had access to one of the true geniuses of black music. "Absolutely," she responds when asked about the personal touch of Self Portrait, "more than any other record, just because of my involvement and that is at every level like choosing the producers and the musicians and the rooms that we mix in and the arrangements and writing and producing.and that's not to claim it and have it, but it's really a way to get it like I want it."

Read the Full Article @