Ronald "Kool" Bell

[FilterFunk]

I'm a keyboardist who grew up loving bass, especially '70s funk bass. I've only been a member of Talkbass since March, but I never see Kool & The Gang's main man Robert "Kool" Bell's name mentioned here. I did a search and didn't find anything, although I would imagine his name is in there somewhere. So I was wondering - how do bassists feel about Kool? I LOVE Kool & The Gang, but how does Kool himself rate among bassists?

P.S. Thanks to Brad Johnson for correcting me...I meant Robert, not Ronald...sorry!

[Brad Johnson]

Ronald is Kool's sax playing brother. Robert is "Kool".

As a bassist who came up in the 70's he was a big influence on me. He was not a chops guy by any stretch of the imagination... and that was cool by just about anyone who was into original Funk. Take the right note, put it in the right place, good times ensue.

He had basslines that many bassists would be proud to have come up with. I was into him even before Jungle Boogie. Check out Love the Life" for example. I rate him very highly because he did one of the most difficult things for any bassists to do...
come up with relatively simple basslines that kill.

"Yeah, I can play that"

"Maybe... but could you play it first?"


And many who think they can play it can't... not with the same feel. Funny how that works.

I did an agency band gig last Saturday (played with them twice so far) and didn't notice until it came up that Funky Stuff was on the setlist. Initially I thought "This'll be interesting" because I haven't heard it played authentically since right after high school. People inevitably butcher Funky George's ultra funky drum pattern and Claydes X's equally killin' rhythm guitar stroke. Among other things.


Not this time. We killed it. I played it like Kool, locked onto the drummer (who nailed it) like we were in heat, lots of space and everything in it's place, the horns hitting like K&TG... the most fun I've had playing that since the 70's.

[FilterFunk]

Thanks for the info, Brad. Sorry I got those names mixed up

[DWBass]

Brad said it all! I also was into Kool & The Gang long before the commercial success! My cousin would have me listening to all those old records back in the very early 70's! Very funky band. Like Brad said, not a chops guy. Even his playing technique is horrible but it worked for him and the band!

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by Brad Johnson

Ronald is Kool's sax playing brother. Robert is "Kool".

Is Ronald still going by "Kalis Bayan", or was that another Bell brother? I did some work for them when they were building a recording studio in New Jersey 25 years ago, met Kalis, thought I remembered he was the sax player...

Back on topic: I loves me some Kool & The Gang, but aside from noticing Robert holding an Alembic in an old promo shot, I don't think I ever paid attention to his bass work...specifically because it was so perfectly and seamlessly integrated into the groove. It didn't call attention to itself as an individual element, it was just part of the whole that made all their tunes feel so freakin' good. Kool was/is the consumate Funk-sician.

[Jamie_Funk]

"Hollywood Swinging" - try playing THAT sparsely - it is hard not to throw in some extra bits/fills, but the song loses so much if you do IMO.

Definitely a "less is more player", which for Kool and The Gang worked brilliantly......

J

[DWBass]

Originally Posted by Hoover

Is Ronald still going by "Kalis Bayan", or was that another Bell brother? I did some work for them when they were building a recording studio in New Jersey 25 years ago, met Kalis, thought I remembered he was the sax player...

Back on topic: I loves me some Kool & The Gang, but aside from noticing Robert holding an Alembic in an old promo shot, I don't think I ever paid attention to his bass work...specifically because it was so perfectly and seamlessly integrated into the groove. It didn't call attention to itself as an individual element, it was just part of the whole that made all their tunes feel so freakin' good. Kool was/is the consumate Funk-sician.

I believe they are still Muslim but use their natural first names these days.

[jerry]

As mentioned, one of the kings of note placement and proponent of the space between the notes makes the groove.

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by Brad Johnson

"Maybe... but could you play it first?"

D

That is the key question for all great music.

[jumbosilverette]

Originally Posted by Jamie_Funk

"Hollywood Swinging" - try playing THAT sparsely - it is hard not to throw in some extra bits/fills, but the song loses so much if you do IMO.

Definitely a "less is more player", which for Kool and The Gang worked brilliantly......

J

The extended version is even harder to do. I'm a kid who grew up on Kool's group and hold them in high esteem...and still playing their music.

[Johnius]

As a Kool & The Gang fan and bass student I have sometimes wondered if it was the lack of more intricate/well-connected basslines that kept the band from having the staying power of their peers. "Universal Sound" is one of my favorite K&TG tunes and the majority bass line is 4 notes that end by 2 and.

[jerry]

Originally Posted by Johnius

As a Kool & The Gang fan and bass student I have sometimes wondered if it was the lack of more intricate/well-connected basslines that kept the band from having the staying power of their peers. "Universal Sound" is one of my favorite K&TG tunes and the majority bass line is 4 notes that end by 2 and.

They had a pretty long shelf life compared to most bands, their biggest hits came out almost 10 years after they hit and they brought in singer J.T. Taylor. Also, some of the bigger and later hits had Will Lee playing bass, playing the lines I'm sure Kool wrote. Those simple lines are what made those songs [IMHO], play almost any Kool & The Gang song on a gig, and the dance floor is packed.

[Brad Johnson]

Originally Posted by jerry

They had a pretty long shelf life compared to most bands, their biggest hits came out almost 10 years after they hit and they brought in singer J.T. Taylor. Also, some of the bigger and later hits had Will Lee playing bass, playing the lines I'm sure Kool wrote. Those simple lines are what made those songs [IMHO], play almost any Kool & The Gang song on a gig, and the dance floor is packed.

This. Granted, they could've had busier bass lines and been right up there with Katchagoogoo.


As jerry said, play a KG song and pack the dance floor. Play a really busy bassline song and people will most likely stand there and watch. We played Funky Stuff at that wedding and people went nuts. And most of them were singing along.


Seriously, what Kool played was state of the art at the time. Funk wasn't about how many notes you could cram in a measure or how many impressionable bassplayers you could impress. It was about establishing the groove. Heck, K&TG didn't even have a real vocalist until years later with JT... that's how good they were... I've said for years that if you can establish a killer groove in a rhythm section you can put damn near anything on top of it.

I remember Bernard Wright was asked back inthe 80's what he thought of Kool and the Gang, he gave them props, calling them "sincere". I agree.

[Brad Johnson]

Originally Posted by Johnius

As a Kool & The Gang fan and bass student I have sometimes wondered if it was the lack of more intricate/well-connected basslines that kept the band from having the staying power of their peers. "Universal Sound" is one of my favorite K&TG tunes and the majority bass line is 4 notes that end by 2 and.

Which peers? Have you seen the House of Blues DVD?



I've always found his bass lines to be extremely well connected... to the groove. And the band. And the song. A very underappreciated thing.

It's not easy for many bassists to play like he did. Yes, many who can play a million notes a measure will dismiss genres and players who employ less notes but IME in most cases those same people can't lay back and play in the groove like the people they dismiss. I won't name names. Few if any would ever admit it.


The urge to cram more notes in is apparently prevalent and overwhelming. Screw the groove, look at me is largely the order of the day.

[DWBass]

Originally Posted by Brad Johnson

Which peers? Have you seen the House of Blues DVD?



I've always found his bass lines to be extremely well connected... to the groove. And the band. And the song. A very underappreciated thing.

It's not easy for many bassists to play like he did. Yes, many who can play a million notes a measure will dismiss genres and players who employ less notes but IME in most cases those same people can't lay back and play in the groove like the people they dismiss. I won't name names. Few if any would ever admit it.


The urge to cram more notes in is apparently prevalent and overwhelming. Screw the groove, look at me is largely the order of the day.

+1000

[Dr. Cheese]

Marcus Miller has mentioned Kool Bell as an influence on more than one occassion. That is about as high a praise as a bassist can have, IMO. As Brad and others have said, everything Kool ever played was perfect for his band. Creating the perfect part is the greatest thing a bassist can do, IMO. I guess a good comparison would be the bassist for AC/DC, he never got the attention of John Entwhistle or John Wetton, but who would argue that Back in Black isn't one of the hardest rocking records ever made?

I saw Kool and the Gang live at least twice. Once I remember when their show was almost over, only Kool, the keyboardist, and the drummer were left on the stage. The groove so tight! It was almost as if they had turned into a funk Emerson, Lake, and Palmer! For about five minutes, Kool just owned the stage.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by Jamie_Funk

"Hollywood Swinging" - try playing THAT sparsely - it is hard not to throw in some extra bits/fills, but the song loses so much if you do IMO.

Whenever I want some "linear" interplay between the guitar & bass (for one of my 1/2 baked originals), I always use "Hollywood Swinging" as the example.
The bass only plays in this part of the part...& the guitar only plays in this part of the bar.

[jumbosilverette]

Originally Posted by Brad Johnson

This. Granted, they could've had busier bass lines and been right up there with Katchagoogoo.


As jerry said, play a KG song and pack the dance floor. Play a really busy bassline song and people will most likely stand there and watch. We played Funky Stuff at that wedding and people went nuts. And most of them were singing along.


Seriously, what Kool played was state of the art at the time. Funk wasn't about how many notes you could cram in a measure or how many impressionable bassplayers you could impress. It was about establishing the groove. Heck, K&TG didn't even have a real vocalist until years later with JT... that's how good they were... I've said for years that if you can establish a killer groove in a rhythm section you can put damn near anything on top of it.

I remember Bernard Wright was asked back inthe 80's what he thought of Kool and the Gang, he gave them props, calling them "sincere". I agree.

What you say is undeniably true. K&TG ARE funk.

[Caca de Kick]

Huge fan, love Kool's playing. I was just a young kid in the late 70's and early 80's, but remember always singing/humming the basslines to K&TG songs, my family members were always spinning the tunes.
It was when I was a teen in the late 80's and playing sax in a funk band with older guys, when we were doing alot of K&TG tunes when I finally saw the light in how his bass lines drew the songs so tight and groovin and what it did to the dance floor. It was Kool that first made me switch over to bass.

[Dig Wilbur Ware]

His J-bass (?) tones on "Summer Madness" from Light of Worlds was a favorite in my teens. Bass players had my number early!