Portland’s Waterfront Blues Festival Kicks Off July 3rd
Isaac Hayes
The 21st Annual Portland Waterfront Blues Festival kicks off in style on Thursday July 3rd with soul legend Isaac Hayes.
For those who only know him as the voice of Chef on a certain irreverent animated comedy show, Isaac Hayes carries significant weight in the pantheon of American soul music.
Born in poverty in Tennessee, Hayes first brush with music was a high-school rendition of Nat Cole’s “Looking Back” in his now-signature baritone voice that brought down the house. That led to learning the sax and piano (talents that earned him several scholarship offers), and performing with various acts around Memphis that earned him an eventual date as a piano sideman for the burgeoning Stax Records.
His first Stax cuts were with Floyd Newman and Otis Redding that earned praise and an eventual partnership with lyricist David Porter at Stax. The two would produce a string of hits for Newman, Carla Thomas and Sam & Dave. Sam & Dave’s “You Don’t Know Like I Know,” “Hold On! I’m Comin’,” “Said I Wasn’t Gonna Tell Nobody,” “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby,” “I Thank You,” “Wrap It Up,” and the R&B Grammy award-winning “”Soul Man” were among some 200 Hayes-Porter compositions that became standards, in addition to tunes for Redding, Booker T & the MG’s, the Mar-Keys, the Bar-Kays, Rufus and Carla Thomas, and virtually the entire Stax roster.
