WATTSTAX Original Daybill Movie poster Isaac Hayes

Wattstax (1973)

Directed by Mel Stuart.

With The Staple Singers, Richard Pryor, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Luther Ingram, Kim Weston, Johnnie Taylor, The Bar-Kays, Isaac Hayes, Albert King

Wattstax was a benefit concert organized by Stax Records to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the 1965 riots in the African-American community of Watts, Los Angeles. The concert took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 20, 1972. The concert’s performers included all of Stax’s prominent artists at the time. The genres of the songs performed included soul, gospel, R&B, blues, funk, and jazz.