Interview: Two Songwriters Extraordinaire, Isaac Hayes And David Porter, June 2008

Note on this interview from the Conclave Learning Conference in Minneapolis (June 28, 2008): I have omitted Part 2, as there is no audio on Part 2 of the youtube clip, as well as Part 4, which is devoted to audience questions.

Never Can Say Goodbye by Mike n' Ike - Pick Your Favorite Version!

Here's a tune written by Clifton Davis that topped the charts and became concert show-stoppers for at least two 70's icons. In this corner, from Motown Records, The Jackson 5!



And in this corner, from Stax Records, the fabulous Isaac Hayes! I'm partial to the following version and Hayes' baritone vocal stylings - although both renditions are great.

Burt Bacharach Day

This month, we celebrate the late, great Isaac Hayes. Here's the singer-songwriter-arranger-actor-recording producer, etc. performing his original spin on Bacharach and David's Walk On By.



And now, in full Hot Buttered Soul/Black Moses glory, nine and a half minutes from an epic rock-soul version of The Look Of Love:



This 9:41 includes an intro chock full of Hayes' signature orchestrations, his inimitable deep sea diver vocals embracing Burt's beguiling bossa melody, a transition to an instrumental break that sounds like the chord changes from Spooky (by 1960's MOR popsters The Classics IV), then a Far East flute motif that just starts as the clip ends. Cool.