Core News — “Solid Steel in association with Serato (11th May) Coldcut open with the strange and wonderful Connan Mockasin and slide effortlessly into classic Issac Hayes and the Trojan sounds of Vin Gordon. It’s more reggae from Donovan Carless and Roy Pant... more info

Guardian Music — Guitarist behind the 'wacka wacka' sound on Isaac Hayes's Theme from ShaftThe film Shaft was notable for inaugurating the blaxploitation genre in Hollywood, winning an Oscar in 1972 for best original song. Composed by Isaac Hayes, Theme from Shaft �... more info

USA Today Music — Charles "Skip" Pitts, who played the distinctive guitar in Isaac Hayes' 'Theme From Shaft,' died Tuesday. more info

ContactMusic — Isaac Hayes longtime guitarist Charles Pitts has died after a long battle with cancer The musician also known as Skip passed away on Tuesday 01May12 in Memphis Tennessee He was 65 Pitts grew up in Washington D C and learned all about guita... more info

Guardian Music — Saxophonist with the Memphis Horns, who made an important contribution to the sound of 60s soulThe precise, rich brass riffs on such records as Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, Sam & Dave's Soul Man and Otis Redding's Try a Little Tenderness we... more info

Guardian Music — An RR a day helps you work, rest and playChocolate makes for a rich metaphor. It's sweet, it melts, it's velvety and smooth – it's the most sexual of sweet stuffs. Its colour, too, lends it resonance – though only in the hands of black artists. S... more info

Popdose — Isaac Hayes and David Porter wrote a string of hits for Sam & Dave in the '60s. Ken Shane recalls perhaps the greatest of them all more info

Guardian Music — Singer with the American vocal group the Soul ChildrenThe soul singer J Blackfoot, who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 65, was a member of the Soul Children, a vocal quartet whose searing ballads of heartache and infidelity were among the last maj... more info

WFMU's Beware of the Blog — On Surface Noise, Joe McGasko presented a show decked with soul. Listen to this New Birth. song. After annoucing, he continued with late 1970's Isaac Hayes. Compare the lush instrumentation to modern, mechanzed grooves: Small Change returned to W... more info

MVSW — Geto Boys ~ “Mind Playing Tricks On Me” This is always one of my favorite Old School Wednesday posts. Geto Boys from back in 1991. Bushwick Bill’s verse makes this a Halloween joint, even though it wasn’t even close to Halloween… Samples Is... more info