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Celebrate good times at the Fred

Kool and the Gang bring the funk

Performing live has always been Kool and the Gang’s strong suit, so much so that two of their earliest recordings are live albums that capture the energy they were putting out back in 1971. This weekend, their horn-heavy sound blasts forth at the Frederick Brown, Jr. Amphitheater.

Formed in the Jersey City projects, Kool & The Gang began their musical career as the jazz ensemble, The Jazziacs in 1964. Robert "Kool" Bell and his brother Ronald picked up the music bug from their father, a professional boxer who was also a serious jazz lover and a close friend of Thelonious Monk.

With Robert on bass and Ronald picking up an array of horns, the duo completed the line-up with several neighborhood friends. Trombone player Clifford Adams, guitarists Charles Smith and Woody Sparrow, trumpeter Robert "Spike" Michens, alto saxophonist Dennis Thomas, keyboard player Ricky West, and drummer Funky George Brown helped to create the upbeat funk of Kool and the Gang.

Still teenagers, and full of confidence, they released their first album in 1969 on De-Lite Records. It was with Kool & the Gang's sixth LP, “Wild and Peaceful,” that they hit the big time. "Funky Stuff" became their first Top 40 hit at the end of 1973. Then both "Jungle Boogie" and "Hollywood Swinging" reached the pop Top Ten.

Just as funky as James Brown or Parliament (and sampled almost as frequently), Kool & the Gang is one of the most inspired and influential funk units from the '70s, and most popular R&B groups of the '80s. They have relied on their jazz backgrounds and long friendship to create a tightly knit group with the interplay and improvisation of a jazz outfit, plus the energy and spark of a band who have equal ties to soul, R&B, and funk. Except for Michens and West, Kool and the Gang still deliver the goods more than 30 years later.

In 1979, the group added two new vocalists, Earl Toon, Jr. and, more importantly, James "J.T." Taylor, a former Jersey nightclub singer. Kool & the Gang also began working with jazz fusion arranger Eumir Deodato, who produced their records from 1979 to 1982. The first such album, “Ladies Night,” was their biggest hit yet, the first of three consecutive platinum albums, with the Top Ten singles "Too Hot" and the title track. “Celebrate!,” released in 1980, spawned Kool & the Gang's only number one hit, "Celebration," an anthem favored by innumerable wedding receptions since. With Deodato, the group produced several more hits, including the singles "Take My Heart (You Can Have It if You Want It)," "Get Down on It," and "Big Fun," and the albums “Something Special” in 1981 and “As One” a year later. Taylor left the group for a shot time to pursue a solo career finally returning to the group in 1995 for the release of a new album, “State of Affairs.”