A blaxploitation benchmark, the Roy Ayers‘ Coffy score sits up their alongside Curtis Mayfield‘s Superfly and Isaac Hayes‘ Shaft, as one of the era’s finest musical moments. The 1973 hit launched Pam Grier‘s career establishing her as essentially the female face of the genre.
Nimble, percolating, and indubitably funky, Quentin Tarantino appropriated much of Ayer’s score outright (not to mention the film’s star Grier) for his blaxploitation homage, “Jackie Brown.”
Tarantio also “borrowed” the Bobby Womack title track from the film, “Across 110th Street,” a Pam Grier song from, “The Big Doll House,” and Randy Crawford‘s “Street Life” from the 1981 Burt Reynolds film “Sharkey’s Machine.” There’s probably a few other appropriations we haven’t had time to research either.
The four tracks below are songs originally written for “Coffy,” and then aped in “Jackie Brown” (note none of these Ayers tracks are included on the ‘Jackie’ soundtrack disc).
Download: Roy Ayers – “Aragon”
Download: Roy Ayers – “Exotic Dance”
Download: Roy Ayers – “Vittroni’s Theme – King Is Dead”