Isaac Hayes: A soul legend dies

I was completely shocked when I heard Bill's voicemail about the passing of Isaac Hayes. He was only 65.

There were so many facets to Isaac's life. To me he will always represent three icons. One of the founders of early 70's soul music, which led to him scoring the soundtrack and main title theme for "Shaft". His acting turn as The Duke Of New York in "Escape From New York", and of course, the voice of Chef on "South Park".

As a kid I owned the soundtrack to "Shaft", a double album, that I played constantly. In fact I still have it today! Even thought the movie was R rated and I couldn't go see it back then, I still dug the score. The theme is probably one of the most recognizable tracks of music in history. Even if you only heard a couple of hi-hat symbol hits you knew exactly what you were listening to.

Words escape me at the moment, so here are two articles about his life and work in today's Variety and LA Times.

Also, check out this behind the scenes video of Hayes working with "Shaft" director Gordon Parks during one of the recording sessions for the movie. It contains an early alternate version of the main title theme.