Dear friends,
Last Sunday, one of the most genuine artists of this era, Isaac Hayes, passed. He was an original who took his craft seriously and had the integrity to expand his genre of music in a way that it would retain the status of being, in his own words, "classical". That is right; Europeans are not the only people to have classical expressions of their sounds. African Americans have classical music of our own, some of which is called "jazz"...
Isaac Hayes followed the flamboyant style of some of his other popular contemporaries. That is, his outlandish dress was nothing new to African American entertainers of that time. Players like Little Richard, James Brown, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone preceded him with their exotic style of stagewear and stage antics. Most of the other Black male performers maintained a more traditional type of dress - suit and tie.
Ike's first album went relatively un-noticed. However, he "broke out" on his second album "Hot Buttered Soul", opening with his cover of Dionne Warwick's gigantic hit "Walk On By", and a smooth but sympathy-garnering narrative covering Glen Campbell's mega-hit, "By the time I get to Phoenix". Although the other two numbers on the album were great too, a stirring ballad and a funk-jam, the previously-mentioned two munbers by themselves made him a star.
At least to me, his real "rap" though was on the Black Moses album, when he did "Good Love", a number that could easily be called the national anthem for "Players", if one is to make a comparison to what was formerly called "rap", but has now deteriorated into what has been rightfully called, by the likes of music giant Wynton Marsalis and noted writer Stanley Crouch, "buffoon minstrelsy". I am speaking, of course, of the so-called "hip-hop" genre of music.
Nevertheless, while his singing and rap were unique, the music was down right funky - and sweet. But Ike came along at a time when there was great social upheaval happening in our country. Unlike many of the other popular African American artists of the time, he did not involve himself with either politically- or socially-conscious lyrics, except, on the record called "Soulsville", of the Shaft movie score, as well as a rather accommodating social piece called "Windows of the World" that he actually recorded on both of his live albums. And so, he was criticized for that by many Black progressives, at that time, myself included. Of course, the music itself in that movie (Shaft) was incomparable, and, in hindsight, very culturally-correct. It cannot be diminished! Additionally, the Shaft score was phenomenal then, and still is, almost four decades later. I believe, in fact, that it will always be.
At any rate, prior to Shaft's huge success, Ike was being marketed as "Black Moses" - vigorously. An album with that title was released. On it, to name a couple of them, he covered Jerry Butler's R & B classic "Never Gonna Give You Up" and Michael Jackson's (then the Jackson Five) equally classic "Never Can Say Goodbye". Of course, great singers/musicians always do great covers, from Smokey Robinson to Nancy Wilson to Diana Ross or Stevie Wonder to Luther Vandross, for example. Moreover, Ike's concept of maintaining a "classical" expression of any music that he played, cover or no cover, reveals a level of personal, artistic integrity that is rarely displayed by the artists of today, especially the younger ones.
Ike's musical style became contagious too. Therefore, a mere two years after the Black Moses album., a brother named Barry White came onto the music scene, [in a huge way (pun intended :-)]. Barry's voice was deeper than Ike's and he "rapped" more frequently, using a sexy tone that made his female listeners swoon and his male listeners plagiarize. As a matter of fact, to this, any brothers who are World War II baby boomers will testify. For it was not uncommon to hear a cat say to his buddies, "I'm gonna put some Barry White on that woman". Of course, that meant that, whether calling her on the phone or seeing her in person, the fellow was going to playfully imitate White's deep voice and smooth talk to the woman or girl.
To be sure, that created a big smile on the face of any woman or girl who had the pleasure of being approached that way. Anyhow, Barry's songs were accompanied with incredible orchestral arrangements that echoed Hayes' own orchestral offerings, in their magnificence. Moreover, it is an accepted fact that those sounds, of both Ike and Barry, helped to bring in the "disco" era. By the way, even more so than Isaac Hayes, Barry White stayed away from political or even social views in his lyrics, completely. His stuff was about personal, erotic relationships only.
Finally, Isaac Hayes' music career seemed to just disappear, as the Seventies wore on. He reappeared as an actor and radio show host, in the Eighties. He was a different man though. He was no longer Black Moses. Rather, he was just a brother "doin' his thing", so to speak. He co-starred in Keenan Ivory Wayans' classic movie, "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka", a spoof of what had been called "blaxploitation" films of the Seventies. That was a surprise, because, again, Ike had normally stayed away from being involved with political affairs - at least publicly.
Nevertheless, he later took some other movie roles and got a regular spot as the voice of a cartoon character on cable television. Yet, it had just been announced, recently, that he had planned to resume his music career next year, even though he had unsuccessfully released "comeback" albums in both the Eighties as well as the Nineties (and one in 2003). The sad part is: Unless he already recorded some of it, we will never have any idea of exactly what he was going to share. But his music of the past, mid - Seventies and before, is unforgettable. and we will not only always have that, but it (said great music) will surely continue to inspire other musicians for a long time. For what more can we ask?
A link to Ike's discography appears below.
One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Hayes,_Isaac/Discography/Index/P83140/1/
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