Six Years After The Death Of Funk & Soul Isaac Hayes, His Family Plans The 'Unvaulted' Project Featuring The Producer/Singer's Unreleased Masters.
Six years after the passing of funk and soul legend Isaac Hayes, his family plans to push his legacy with the Unvaulted project. On top of 22 full-length studio LP's, five film soundtracks and three live albums, Hayes laid claim to hundreds of unreleased masters, which were recently pulled from a Tennessee vault by his son Isaac Hayes III. The junior Hayes offers some insight into his discovery of the music that will make up the project he is spearheading alongside the Atlanta-based Isaac Hayes Enterprises, which was founded by the family to protect the elder Hayes' legacy:
“I was just in awe of the organization and the quality in which he kept things,” recalls Hayes III. “Even [family] photos that I didn’t have or my mom didn’t have that he had, it was kind of just dope. Images and sheet music, photographs, all these masters; there was just so much stuff that he really took pride in preserving and taking care of, some going back to the Sixties.”
The recordings include albums and songs from Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul label, outtakes from recordings with Major Harris and Donald Byrd and instrumentals that span multiple genres. Isaac Hayes III has done the painstaking work of restoring his father's recordings, some of which had been damaged over time. Hayes III has been gathering select groups of producers and musicians to listen to the material which, not surprisingly, has been blowing people away. He is reportedly open to considering requests from producers and others interested in licensing the music, though he plans to be very selective about granting access to the material:
“The bridge between current culture and my dad’s legacy and heritage that I have and the connection with him and his music is a definite advantage,” he says. “Musically, just being in the industry and the amount of relationships that I have -- I always say that I’m a relationship guy -- I’m excited because I know so many people. And even having met so many people that I know are relationships that my father had that I might be able to continue or build upon with respect to who he was as a person, it’s good.” He maintains close ties to organizations that closely supported and honored his father, including the Recording Academy and Hayes’ publisher BMI.“I think the job of any celebrity’s estate is to find their place in pop culture to continue the legacy, whatever that is,” he asserts. “Whatever essence of my father that some 17-year-old can find in his music is the job that I have to do. Someone who is that young is not going to necessarily know the music in the same way that my parents knew it or that I know it, but the essence is still there. You have to find that bridge.”
Isaac Hayes III also plans to relaunch Hot Buttered Soul in order to release music that was shelved after the fall of Stax Records forced his father into bankruptcy during the late-70's. Some of the music could potentially be compiled for a tribute LP. The ultimate goal of Isaac Hayes III and Isaac Hayes Enterprises, however, is to work toward timelessness. Check the footage below to get a taste of the Unvaulted project. Stay tuned for more.
Spotted at BB.
