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Musical Space: Cinematic Soul

Soundtracks to films such as Shaft and Cleopatra Jones changed the pop music landscape by providing a new perspective on soul sensibility with funky drum, slap bass, clavinet and the sound of wah wah pedals.

You could hear strings and horns collide with orchestral movie music and a James Brown style groove.

Earth, Wind and Fire provided the soundtrack to the seminal Blaxploitation film Sweet_Sweetback's_Baadasssss_Song, Isaac Hayes charted in the mainstream with the theme from Shaft and Curtis Mayfield created a memorable soundtrack to Superfly.

This cinematic soul music hit the radio just before disco took hold and it’s hard to imagine that that could have happened without the help of Hayes, Brown, Mayfield and others.

Mark Foley is principal double bass of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and professor of double bass and head of Jazz Studies at Wichita State University.