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Stax Music Academy's SNAP! honors soul legend Isaac Hayes

By Mark Jordan

Reggie Mitchell, a student in Stax Music Academy’s SNAP! After School music program for three years, met Isaac Hayes only once before the soul legend died in August at the age of 65.

"He came to class one day," says the Central High School junior. "It didn’t hit me all at once, but it hit me after: ’Man, that’s Isaac Hayes.’ "

Though their personal contact was fleeting, Mitchell and fellow students at the academy know well the debt they owe to the Grammy-winning songwriter and performer.

"In addition to his musical legacy, Isaac Hayes was very special in his contribution to our work," says academy executive director Cary Booker.

Thursday night the students of SNAP! will acknowledge that debt with a concert honoring Hayes. Organized by academy artistic director Ashley Davis, the show will feature all four SNAP! music ensembles -- the Stax Music Academy Rhythm Section, the StreetCorner Harmonies vocal group, the Premier Percussionists, and the Soulsville Swing Band. They will be joined by, among others, academy artist-in-residence Kirk Whalum and former original Bar-Kays trumpeter Ben Cauley as well as the charter school’s Soulsville Symphony Orchestra augmented with members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.

Besides the musical tribute, organizers will posthumously present Hayes with the first Soul Circle Award, an honor designed to recognize musical artists who have been strongly involved in education. Hayes’ friend and Stax songwriting partner David Porter will accept the award on behalf of Hayes’ family.

First conceived of earlier this year, academy organizers had been debating who should receive the honor when fate took a hand.

"We wanted to honor a music artist who represents the legacy of Stax and sort of where we’re going as an academy carrying that legacy forward," says Booker of the artists who were under consideration. "When Isaac passed away it was this whiplash moment where we realized the person we’d all been talking about without realizing it was him."

Hayes was one of the biggest stars at Stax Records, whose headquarters stood for nearly 20 years at 926 E. McLemore, where the Academy and the adjacent Stax Museum of American Soul Music are now. He started as a session musician in the mid ’60s. After teaming with Porter, he worked as a successful songwriter and producer for artists such as Sam & Dave. Beginning in 1968, he became a successful artist in his own right, thanks to albums like Hot Buttered Soul, Black Moses and the soundtrack to the 1971 film "Shaft."

In his final years, Hayes was as popular as he’d ever been, with numerous film and television appearances, his own nightly radio show, and even a cookbook. But when the academy opened its doors in 2002, Hayes, who had moved back to Memphis a year earlier after several years spent in Atlanta and New York, always managed to find time to give back. Hayes was a frequent visitor to the Academy, dropping in to share advice and stories and giving his time to numerous concert and fundraising events.

"He’s been very supportive of our students and lending his time and worlds of wisdom to our kids," says Booker. "The first public concert the Soulsville Symphony Orchestra of the charter school ever played was to Isaac Hayes where they played ’Shaft’ for him. He was so touched by that experience, he stood up, tears in his eyes, and gave them a standing ovation."

SNAP! After School Winter Concert: Go Down Moses -- A Tribute to Isaac Hayes

7 p.m. Thursday at the Germantown Performing Arts Center, 1801 Exeter Rd. Tickets: $10; available at the door and in advance at the Stax Museum Gift Shop. For more information, visit staxmusicacademy.org or call 946-2535, ext. 33