Kool & The Gang
+ Paquito Groove Band
Funk-jazz for Saturday night fever
Quentin Tarantino can´t be wrong. He has an excellent taste choosing songs for his movies, and when he included Kool & The Gang´s “Jungle Boogie” in the “Pulp Fiction” soundtrack (1994) he knew what he was doing. During the last 35 years they haven´t stopped playing live, and their blend of powerful funk and jazzy arrangements have transformed them into one of the most sampled bands in history after James Brown.
It all started in 1964 in Jersey City, when the brothers Ronald and Robert “Kool” Bell joined their friends to create a unique blend of jazz, soul and funk. Their “Kool And The Gang” 1969 debut established their own touch that featured very spectacular horn arrangements.
The band settled its reputation with the following albums, but “Wild And Peaceful” (1973) took them to another level, with dance music anthems such as “Funky Stuff”, “Hollywood Swinging” and especially with “Jungle Boogie”. After that, other hits would arrive, like the number one “Higher Plane”, “Summer Madness” and albums such as “Spirit Of The Boogie” (1975), “Love & Understanding” (1976) and “Open Sesame” (1976), featured in the soundtrack of the movie “Saturday Night Fever” (1977)
In 1979 the band´s sound changed to a softer, more pop-funk one with “Ladies Night”, produced by Eumir Deodato. The success would continue during the eighties with “Celebrate!” (1980), with hits such as “Celebration”.
With the hip hop explosion of the nineties, many of their songs were sampled by rap artists. Some of them would pay their debt to them in “The Hits Reloaded” (2004), where they redid their biggest hits with the collaboration of disciples such as Redman, Lil´Kim, Angie Stone and Jamiroquai.
