Soul Man Hayes Partners With PSO for Benefit Concert

By Mark Kanny

Isaac Hayes loves being the headliner for Thursday’s Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Community Partners Concert. He thinks it’s “a great idea” for the orchestra to present a concert and turn over all the proceeds to local nonprofit organizations.

Famous for his path-breaking soul and funk music, and a triple Grammy winner, Hayes is also popular as a film and television actor.

But, first and foremost, he’s a musician, one who says he’s enjoyed working with orchestras for more than 30 years. “Classical musicians — pick your style, and they’ll do it. It’s good music and nice to hear those strings and everything because they’re so disciplined,” he says.

The fifth-annual Community Partners Concert with Hayes starring takes place at Heinz Hall, Downtown. The program also features violinist Danielle Belen Nesmith, winner of the 2008 Sphinx Competition, playing the last movement of Johannes Brahms Violin Concerto, with Lawrence Loh conducting.

The symphony’s Community Partners Concerts have raised more than $300,000 for local nonprofits. This year, 50 groups are participating. Ticket buyers can designate which organization will receive the price of their tickets. The symphony will divide undesignated funds evenly among all 50 groups. The support of lead sponsor Giant Eagle and other contributors enables the symphony to turn all ticket proceeds over to the nonprofits.

Hayes will bring his own ensemble to back him playing with the symphony, and promises fans he’ll do many of his biggest hits, including “Shaft,”"Walk On By,”"Joy” and “Never Could Say Goodbye.” The Hayes group consists of Skip Pitts, guitar; Kurt Mitchell, bass; Damien Savage and Ben Flint, keyboards; James Robertson and Jason Hann, drums and percussion. Rhonda Thomas, Fred Sawyers and Paula Coleman will provide background vocals.

Hayes believes in giving back. His success has enabled him to underwrite literacy programs in the United States and Ghana. He believes literacy is the first step to being able to seize life’s opportunities and that “you’ve got to crawl before you can walk.”

The singer lives in Memphis, Tenn., with his wife, Adjowa, and their 2-year-old son, Kwadjo, whose lively sounds could be heard in the background during a telephone interview. “He gets me up early,” Hayes says a little ruefully.

Hayes grew up in a poor sharecropper’s family 30 miles outside of Memphis. His parents died when he was an infant, and he and his sister Wilette were raised with love by his maternal grandparents. They all moved to Memphis when he was 7, but his grandfather died soon thereafter. He knew hard work from an early age.

Now, Hayes and his family live in a big house overlooking the very fields where he picked cotton many decades ago.

His first musical outlet was in church, where he sang and played piano duets with his sister. When his voice broke, “it went to the basement.” In high school, a teacher encouraged him to enter a talent show. Hayes, who was a big fan of Nat King Cole, sang “Looking Back” and won big.

He kept working at music, teaching himself to be expert on the piano and became a staff musician at Stax Records. His solo second album, “Hot Buttered Soul,” released in 1968 was his breakthrough hit. It offered defining elements of his style, four extended songs per record. He turned Burt Bacharch’s three-minute “Walk On By” into a 12-minute exploration of soulful funk. Talking in songs is part of Hayes’ mix, something he admired in the albums of Gil Scott-Heron.

Hayes is an irrepressible figure, who shares his many enthusiasms with his fans. His book “Cooking With Heart & Soul: Making Music in the Kitchen with Family and Friends” is in its third edition and keeps his roots alive.

“It’s fun to cook. I do like some of my grandparents’ recipes and include them with some changes. Not many. Maybe a little more of this or that spice,” he says.

(c) 2008 Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.