Oh…what a night! This line from the Kool & the Gang’s 1979 hit “Ladies Night” perfectly describes their show at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday and Saturday. A Bowl fan favorite, and for a good reason, this Grammy award-winning band knows how to get the party started, and their musicianship is tremendously strong and still incredibly cool (pun intended) are celebrating 60 years in music.
With founding member Robert “Kool” Bell, original member – drummer George “Funky” Brown, and the super-talented lead vocalist and guitarist Shawn D. McQuiller, aka Shawny Mac, the band kicked off a fun-filled, funky evening of their greatest hits. For 75 get-your-party-on minutes, Kool & the Gang took the Bowl audience on a nostalgic journey from “Fresh” to “Joanna” to the 1973 hits “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swingin,” – the audience singing Jungle Boogie, Jungle Boogie, get down…get down filled the air, a perfect California evening with concertgoers boogying without care. Oh, what a night, indeed.
The band finished with “Cherish,” “Ladies’ Night,” “Get Down On It,” and of course, “Celebration,” an anthem played across the country for all things celebratory…promotions…birthdays…weddings…new babies….at sporting events. “Celebration” is not only a beloved party song but one that holds an important distinction; a song inducted into the Grammy Songs Hall of Fame.
According to the website Who Sampled, Kool & the Gang is one of the most sampled groups of all time – amazingly 1900 times. If you have never seen the 1991 video of Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff’s “Summertime,” you’re missing a real treat – it showcases the band’s magnificent 1974 hit “Summer Madness.” Or check out Jerald Daemyon’s 1994 jazzy version of “Summer Madness,” proof that Kool & the Gang songs endure the test of time.
Founded in 1969, the men from Jersey City, NJ, consisted of seven original members; Robert “Kool” Bell, who is the godson of Thelonious Monk and his brother Ronald “Khalis” Bell, Dennis “Dee Tee” Thomas, Robert “Spike” Mickens, Ricky Westfield, George “Funky” Brown, and Charles Smith. Later, the group would change its makeup to include lead singer James “JT” Taylor.
Kool & the Gang would earn a Grammy for Album of the Year (for the soundtrack to “Saturday Night Fever,” seven American Music Awards, 25 Top Ten R&B hits, nine Top Ten Pops hits, and 31 gold and platinum hits. The band received the 2,560th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2015. And in 2018, Robert Bell, George Brown, Robert Bell, and JT Taylor were inducted into the Song Writers Hall of Fame. And Kool’s bass guitar is displayed at the new Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.
The band has released its 34th studio album this month, “People Just Wanna Have Fun.” Brown describes the new LP saying, “People just want to live and be happy,” he said. “You see people running away from their countries all over the world for asylum and for a better way. The album is about peace, happiness, and humanity; we infused that into each song.”
Today, there are only two surviving members- the aforementioned Kool Bell and George Brown, but the band plays on; Bowl concertgoers happily showed appreciation for a band whose sound remains timeless and who, without a doubt, exemplified the Hollywood Bowl’s description of its current season – Summer Forever.
