Isaac Hayes was a producer, arranger and songwriter at Stax-Volt Records in the late 1960s and was integral to the transition of soul music into funk and funk into disco. He released many albums under his own name but ask anyone about him and one track will come to mind: the silken funk that helped define the mood and sensibility of Shaft (1971). Considered the premiere film in a sometimes dubious genre with the doubtful handle of “blaxploitation,” Shaft is as remembered for its theme song as for its protagonist, the hardboiled Harlem private eye John Shaft.
The original soundtrack in its complete version has been reissued as a two-CD set, probably on the tails of the film’s new 2019 next-generation version. Hayes’ orchestrated inner-city soul—with his chilled vocals—has aged surprisingly well. It’s of its time and yet points to the shape of times to come. “Theme from Shaft,” which dominated AM radio and won a pair of Grammy awards, isn’t the only thing worth hearing on the album. Hayes had a good ear for matching tense percussion and orchestral sounds to the dramatic needs of particular scenes—all the while making sure that the music could stand alone. Blues, gospel and jazz suffuse many tracks in different degrees.
With good reason, the soundtrack from this summer’s Shaft quotes Hayes’ original theme several times.
