Another sad passing - we lose guitarist Charles 'Skip' Pitts

[alanh]

The BBC reports the death of Memphis musician Charles 'Skip' Pitts, best known for his wah wah guitar on 'Shaft'.....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17923460

Yet another sad passing and the loss of a great musician.

[chidrummer]

I always wondered who played that guitar part. Seems to me I read in several places that the Bar Kays were the rhythm section on Shaft, but Lloyd Smith's guitar style never did sound like that record. Now I know for sure why.

Condolences to his family & friends

[stephanie]

RIP My friend

[juicefree20]

I'm very sorry to hear this sad news.

I met Skip back in Dec. 2005 on the first day of the ''70's Soul Superstars" PBS taping in Dover. As we all began arriving & heading backstage, Skip was one of the first who arrived for rehearsal. A group of us began striking up conversations & Skip was one of the funniest people there. That's when I found out who he was & we began speaking about his work with Isaac.

He was waiting for Isaac to arrive & word was that Isaac was upset & it would be best to leave him alone. I walked with Skip to the lobby & waited to Isaac to finish another conversation. As it turned out, Isaac wasn't really upset, so the 3 of us began talking for a good while & Isaac was actually in a great mood. We had to break it up because it was about time for Isaac to begin soundcheck, so we all walked back to the stage area.

We had a great time & Isaac & Skip had some of the funniest stories you'd ever want to hear. I'm glad that I was able to tape those exchanges that Isaac & Skip had with Tony Sylvester, Cuba Gooding & a few others. We took some pictures & I recorded some of the backstage banter [[some NSFW) & the performances. One of these days when I can find a new Hi-8 camcorder, I'm going to transfer those PBS memories to digital.

What I'll remember most is that Skip had a smile on his face & lots of jokes during those 2 days. If you've ever seen that PBS taping, you'll probably notice that Skip had a smile on his face for just about his entire performance. I was glad to see how humble he was about his role in cinematic & funk history, his guitar figures are known the world over. I was glad that he was down-to-earth enough to spend time talking with a guy who was no big-timer, but just an ordinary lay-person.

It's amazing to think that we lost Isaac not very long afterward & even more ironic that Skip's gone now at the same age that Isaac was. I think of all of the artists I've met in less than the span of a decade & it saddens me to consider how many of them are no longer with us & at a relatively young age at that.

Skip is one of those people & I'm glad to have met him. I extend my condolences to his family, friends & fans.

Skip Pitts - R.I.P.