The Coolest Summer Groove EVER
Вставка
- Опубліковано 9 сер 2023
- #bass #basshistory #analysis #transcription #paulthompson
Breaking down one of the most iconic tracks from the last 50 years: Kool & the Gang's R&B-meets-Jazz masterpiece, "Summer Madness" from the 1974 LIGHT OF WORLDS album (De-Lite). I'll get into where the song actually came from, the magic of each individual part, and what exactly makes up those solos that they play. I'll also introduce you to Ronald 'Khalis' Bell and Robert 'Kool' Bell and how they crafted a timeless track.
This is one of the most sampled songs in history (including lifts by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Snoop Dog, Nas, Slum Village, 2pac, and even Kid Rock). Wanna find out why? Check out this video.
Website: www.paulthompson.us
Instagram @pdbass74
Twitter @pdbass74
Spotify playlist covering the music I've analyzed on the channel: open.spotify.com/playlist/76j...
Bro…….. you got me with tears in my eyes from the flood of memories….. this song is in the soundtrack of my life……17 year old fledgling guitarist……I heard this and life changed forever……I know each note of every solo of every instrument……and Kools bass ……..the unmistakable tone of a Fender P Bass……..I’m going to cue this up right now. Thanks buddy !
Such is the gift of music, friend.
Mate I saw them at Glastonbury in I think 2016... tears all the way... they still had it in spades and I've never felt such a pure love vibe from any croud ever! Damn.. you got me welling up again.. shucks.. 🥹
I was in the studio working with a female rap group in the very early 80’s. They wrote an original song, no samples. A buddy called me in for the gig. After our time there was another group using the same room. Kool and the Gang. Nicest bunch of guys you could ever meet. We sat around for about 20 minutes just talking, us listening to them and soaking up knowledge. Great memory
Putain frère, tu m’as ému parce que je ressens la même chose soundtrack de ma vie
I love your passion. You're not alone. I know EXACTLY how you feel. Proud of you!
Summer Madness possibly my favorite song of all time.
The Rhodes sound is so smooth I'm sure it could be used to cure people. And remember - let's celebrate!
This tune as well as Roy Ayers - Everybody Loves The Sunshine are my two top tracks for summer,thanks pdbass love your uploads.
Donald Byrd and Blackbyrds, walking in Rhythm has to be in that list. Roy Ayers, everybody loves the sunshine…. Love that tune.
Agreed walking in rhythm as to be on the list ,top tune, and Faze-O - Riding High as to be another,as well as the obvious Summer Breeze - The Isley Brothers.
This sounds like a great video topic! Gimme 9 months. “Top 10 Summer Grooves”!
@@pdbass Will look out for that one.
@@rootsoriginals7087 I'll try to ask for some suggestions on my community board next spring. I think I'm a little late on summer topics for now.
Yes summer madness is one of those jams that sounds good any season of the year. And also any weather conditions, blazing hot in a park at summer time. Or in the winter when the rain is coming down. Summer Madness just soothes the soul!!!!
Thanks again
Paul, stay healthy and blessed ❤️
When autumn leaves fall to the ground
And their colors change red and brown
The smell of chestnuts roasting in the air
That lets us know she's almost here
Winter sadness
Winter sadness
Summer Madness gets me every time, headphones on and replay over and over til I’m back in those summers of my youth. Love it.
There is something weird about this song... weird in a good way. I found it by accident here on UA-cam a few years ago. I was bedridden for the better part of a year after a terrible, terrible concussion. For some reason an extended play version turned up when my account was set on autoplay and I never got tired of it. It made me both think, and not think/relax, all at the same time. Under the video in the comments, some dude said Summer Madness helped him recover from a brain injury in the hospital as he listened to some long play of it. There's something soothing, spiritual, and healing about it for me. I'm still healing from my injury a few years later and still not tired of this song. Thanks to Kool, the Gang, and the Creator for it.
This song instantly transports you to another dimension 🎼
WORD!!!
100%
Especially when driving around in twilight of the evening or around sunrise heading to work...or if you're up before sunrise anyway because you work those artist/producer/night shift hours like me. lol Just helps you zone out.
I love Winter Sadness too.💯❤
the Kool Jazz remastered album from 97 is a nice pre 77 jazz compilation of early kool tracks including Winter Sadness. Such a great song.@@dcthomas8959
Superb, your teaching inspires me greatly Sir!
One of the best tracks of all time
Summer Madness is one of those fire tracks to play on your speaker as you chill in your back garden in the sunshine.
This song gets me every time. Thanks for dropping the knowledge on this timeless masterpiece. Much appreciated Paul
As an european musician i missed many of the tracks you are mentioning in your vids. And i thought i knew (and loved) Kool and The Gang music pretty well...i was wrong! Thank you Maestro!!!
This track and Sun Goddess by Earth, Wind & Fire + Ramsey Lewis are two of my favorite summer tracks!
Agree … Real Classic Soul ✌🏼
I’ve been checking out some Kool & The Gang recently. Robert “Kool” Bell was an underrated bassist. It bugged me when they pretty much replaced his parts with synth bass in the 80s, but I’m glad to see that he’s still at it.
That's my hp to song when I have a headache or if I'm stressed out. Its like a drug that soothes your soul.
One of the greatest songs ever made,
Still kicking after 50yrs!❤
I didn't appreciate the musicality of Kool and the Gang initially. When you're young its all about groove. When I started playing music in my late teens and through college I realized that these men were great musicians. Thanks for doing this video. I did a lot of slow dancing to this song in my teens just like everybody else.🔥
They dont make music like this anymore. Thank you for providing your unique insights into this timeless piece of music.
"they're figuring it out, as they go along" damn brother - exactly. I always felt that way about this song...and that the tension that rises, always felt organic by them being mesmerized by the compilation going on as its own. Excellent descriptions - old bass player here from the 80s. And with acknowledging props to Nick Beggs - writing the too shy bass line when he was 21 (wth!) subbed! And yes how they left in that bass fret noise - man, this sound was only possible from the early 70s.
Maybe they were indeed figuring out the final formula as they went along. Remember that those records were recorded in sessions with all the band members jamming and not on some computer with someone drawing MIDI notes.
So chances are that they started with the rough idea and refined it as they went along. Once the overall idea has been established, they went on to record the song, still leaving some room for improvisation.
Another great lesson , professor. That song is a perfect instrumental
This jam IS summer to me. Especially the live version.
Can't wait for the video on the live 1976 version 🔥🔥🔥
UA-cam is wonderful. Just search Summer Madness “ Live “. Great music !
One of my favorite intros ever!
Outstanding breakdown!! What makes 70’s bands like Kool & EWF so amazing to me is their strong foundation in jazz. They could play anything!
As has been mentioned, the song is featured in the first Rocky. Listen to “Gonna Fly Now” & hear the synthesizer part. I always think this track influenced what became the “Rocky theme.”
Us deejays at WSBF-FM Clemson absolutely fell in love with this track. I still air it on my show.
I GOT THIS ALBUM UPON RELEASE!!!! And, this is the Greatest Song amongst the Great Songs on this album!!! They never returned to these themes again!!! They went in other great directions!!! This Groove and #HollywoodSwingin' are irreplaceable!!!
Summer doesn't start until Fresh Prince's "Summer Time" plays....thanks Kool n the Gang
Masterpiece 🤌🏾
It blew my mind when I found out this groove was much older than the Fresh Prince. This track was so ahead of its time with its thick ambiance.
Sidenote, I love your breakdowns, pdbass. Very easy to follow, and your enthusiasm is infectious :)
Oh yeah, when I hear the JJ & FP version, I'm instantly transported back to 1991, high school... I can almost smell the Drakkar Noir!
Over 10 years later, I worked with the producer of that single, Hula Malone, on a film that was shot at his crib
thanks! My day get just better with your soulful recommendation! Please keep doing this!
And AGAIN I get to know a great song that I'd never heard of before, thanks to this channel. Thanks, mate!
Master Class on bass and bass history..💯👍
Everything about this song is magic, it’s top of my list for sure. ✌️😙
I mean this is another brilliant breakdown 🎓 🦉. I had the honor of meeting Robert "Kool" Bell back in the early 90's. Just listening to him talk about music and some of his accomplishments was like listening to a talking book 📖. Thank you for this walk down memory lane 👍🏾.
That pbass tone was so formative to me. Insanely up front and "noisy".
THE smoothest cut EVER!! Takes me back to NYC 1974 in deep memory.
Paul, this was so FIRE! 🔥 And what's cool is you made all the theory so relatable. Excellent job my man. 🤘
Man, this channel has the best content. Another inspiring video.
That IS Jazz, y'all!! & you bring it to life in a really FUN way!!
Amazing groove that was everywhere in the summer air back in the 70s. But it always reminds me of that scene from Rocky when he wakes up early and drinks a few eggs. EDIT: I got it wrong! Sorry. It was the scene where he's talking to the turtles and reminiscing...
I remember this song from my parents having the record when I was a kid.
This may well be my favorite song of all time!
This song lowkey laid the foundation of modern chill-out/downtempo/lo-fi hip-hop genres out there. It has that organic feel that makes you at peace with everything. Imagine sitting on a lazy chair, over a beautiful beach, drink of your choice, while mezmerised at gorgeous sunset, while this song gently playing in the background. What a song.
❤❤❤..
Oh the memories!!! When I was a teenager, *THIS* was the song that got me interested in fusion jazz!!! 👏👏👏
Aaahh yeah, this cut never gets old…triggers my emotions and a feeling every time! The comments on this video say a lot about how this cut touches people in so many diff ways, pretty amazing!
you a bad man PD. Love this track. Well done.
I looooove that groove. Khraungbin's cover is awesome
Dude, you're JEALOUS of me! I was around when this album was released, and I had the world's coolest dad: A bebop jazz sax player who bought nearly all the best music available in the day! He bought this album. I LOVED IT! He did, too! When I want to pretend I have jazz chops (I play guitar.), I'll cue this up.
"That's jazz, y'all..." And that's why, when I worked what was then called "progressive FM" radio back in the mid-70s to mid-80s, we were allowed to play damn near anything we wanted...including Kool & The Gang and Jaco and Herbie and The Stones and Hendrix ("Up From the Skies" is jazz, too, y'all...) and practically anything else. Great Kool track, great video. Now, about your take on that '76 live version...
This is that song you listen to while riding down the coast, downtown, sitting in the park or loungin' in the crib on a summer night. Classic!!!
Please, please, please do a video about the ‘76 version! It’s THE version! By the time the vocals start, Kool has gone beast mode and is in the pocket so deep you’d think he was born there!
Summer, summer, summer time. Time to sit back and unwind. KATG were PAID very well for this superb piece of musical genius.
This song is THE definitive smooth R&B song for just driving.
Excellent feature, thank you Paul!
Loved when Rocky Balboa is alone at home and this track comes on , Rocky wasn’t a bad guy .
I knew from the title, you were going to cover this track. You keep mentioning all my favourite tracks recently!
My best friends father was successful and he would buy a new Cadillac every year but he kept some of the older ones and let his son drive them to school. We were on the track team together and my friend says "we gotta do this, this is amazing" . He gets the Caddy, 1971 convertible and tells me to get in. He says we are just going to drive. Then he puts in the new Light of the Worlds tape and cues it to Summer Madness. My jaw dropped. I had never heard anything like it before or since. Cruising around the valley, looking up and seeing the stars and hearing this music i cannot tell you what it was like. Just amazing. It was like we had just begun to understand how great life was.
Awesome presentation dude thanx!
Word!..I heard this classic jam on Vinyl around '76..remember my late mum *RIP* say if the cows were grazing close by when the Arp Solo was playing...😂..this is a jam for all time..laid back groove that gets your stress levels down..relaxes your mind,body &soul..one of my fav Kool n the Gang jams....just like they holler " Can't get enuff of that Funky jam"✌🏾love how Paul dissects the groove..Shout out to our Host..keep giving us the Best Bass grooves👍🏽
It's amazing how great this 50 song is. Never seems to get old. Another less known but equally great song from this Kool and Gang era is "Whisper Softly". They were so smooth.
This channel is so educational, kinda like if Rick Beato just stuck to bass. Thought of you yesterday when i was in a store and Too Shy came on. I gotta start pulling up these lessons during practice sesh. 😊
Thx for the education and keeping great music from many eras and styles alive and with us all 🎉❤
A very cool track indeed. And all the samples? No wonder I thought I'd heard it before.
Great to come across this video. There is a divinity in this song and it moves me every time. It's the highly-talented masterful and creative musicians collectively expressing themselves through improvising, and we can feel their emotion. With your deconstruction you made me remember that I first found the song on the B-side of a very famous 7" A-Side** that when I I bought when I was at school. I remember that when I first heard it, I kept lifting the tonearm of my record player once I played it, then set the arm down again and repeated this again, again and again ..... (**Get Down On It)
Absolute banger of a track, thanks for talking about it! Great video
Great video. I learned something today, Cool And The Gang did this song first, I never knew. I love your channel, keep up the good work. Loved your Summer Breeze video. 👍❤️💪
High praise to the author of this video.
I love how you explain this Kool and the gang masterpiece. Based on that alone I gave you a big thumbs up 👍 and I subscribed to your jazzy and funky channel.
A P Bass never felt so tight, a perfect demonstration of why it’s the most famous bass.
Dang, you keep dropping that knowledge. Will Smith even put the title in the lyrics to "Summer Time". Any plans on making a playlist for different genres?
DAMN! I smiling ear to ear from
Your analysis. K&TG’s music was a introduction into music listening since my early early elementary school years -Who’s gonna take the weight, The Penguin, Funky Granny, Funky Man, X-Rated, Love the life you live). My favorite band for all time.
I wish you could dedicate an entire show to their contribution to soul-funk genre.
Great pick! Awesome Lesson! since my schooldays, I've never been able to skip this song, wherever it appears: radio, home made tape, playlist. It's real funk magic.
Never realized the dep way mixed modes open the canvas. Thanks once more, professor
was raised in NYC hearing Summer Madness for the first time when I was 12, fishing in Coney Island & I still have the soundtrack in vinyl & CD but the cassette was eaten by the radio. I always say that they don't make music like this anymore. When the Bose 901s came out I saved up for those speakers & the first sound I put on the turntable was Summer Madness!
As a previous Detroiter, I got to here this track every night at 11PM on WNIC closing out a show called Pillow Talk. I miss those days, and I love this instrumental. Thanks Paul.
It's one of my favorite songs ever. Ever! A group with jams in multiple genres.
Can you cover Johnny Guitar Watson?
Paul your bassline breakdowns help me to appreciate the complexity that is involved in music. I'm a sucker for a good bassline and your breakdown of the notes, scales, and terminology humbles a non-musician like me who hears the completed work. I often wonder, how do musicians come up with their respective parts of these masterpieces?
I was thinking this but you said it better ✔️
Thank you@@kwamezulushabazz
Yep yep yep….the LIVE VERSION from 1976 is my favorite version…..PURE FIRE🔥 …another amazing breakdown….like always, your talking way over my head musically & loving it…..thanks like always giving us your listeners a new way to listen to these very important compositions
This commentary and analysis on this timeless classic is long overdue. Thank you for opening our eyes👍
this song is so entralling so adictive!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pure bliss!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It definitely was a summer slammer back then it felt like the radio stations were playing it every hour!
Summer Madness is a music masterpiece.
My brother, you hit it on the nail “EVER” I’ve been following Kool and the Gang for many, many years and got to see them perform a few times. They electrified the audiences but when they played this song, the crowd went wild as I did myself; thank you for sharing this masterpiece… peace ✌🏼
Heaven!!!! I have loved this song since it 1st came out the year I Graduated HS 1974
That G# before the C# is straight V chord trickery. Musically I'm always amazed how it sounds wrong and right at the same time. Like musical umami.
The first time I heard this song ~'74 it was on a Delco GM Bose Music System Demonstration Cassette for Cadillac.
I still jam to the older pre-Taylor pop days.Their instrumentals always put me in a nice mood. I was just going to mention the live version, but you beat me to the punch! LOL If I remember correctly, this song was also played on the original Rocky.
it was played in the movie. but was not on the soundtrack as Bill Conti replayed(rearranged) it for inclusion on the soundtrack. i don't think K&TG got any writing credit for it although i could be wrong. Reflections was the rearranged version.
Thanks for covering music the way you do. Appreciate the way you’ve made me curious to explore familiar and unfamiliar music. I’ve heard this song but had no clue it was Kool and the Gang - and I love them! I will be checking this album out. 👍
Sounds like fresh prince and dj jazzy jeff used this song for their Summertime song. I didn't know that was Kool and the gang....pretty cool
At this time I didn't know anything about Kool & the Gang. But I heard this song in the soundtrack of the first Rocky movie. It transported so perfectly the mood of the scene. It flashed me and since that this song is a part of my life.
This is the foundation for the Digable Planets' classic Jimmi Diggin Cats, too.
Edit: Never mind, you mentioned it at the end. 😂
Yo, "That's jazz y'all" Sounds crazy but so often you highlight tunes from my playlist. Thank you!
such a great track. brings memories of a weird (you guessed it) summer!
It's no coincidence that my summer playlist opens with Summer Madness...it's the ultimate summer jam for the grown and sexy! Great breakdown!
LOVE that band.
Tabs would be great for those of us that dont read music. Love this track. Such an underrated bassist and band as a whole.
Fantastic breakdown of one of the best tracks ever recorded 👏👏👏
Always loved this timeless groove. The fret noise is also apparent. That said, there’s one little thing my ear can’t help but notice. The tightness of the groove seems ever so slightly off at times. I don’t know if this adds or takes away a bit. Regardless, it’s a great tune.
What fo you mean by the tightness of the groove? Just wondering
Oh my goodness!, Oh my goodness!, Oh my goodness!, Oh my goodness!, Oh my goodness!!!!!!! Paul!!!!! How in the world..., and who gave you permission..., to penetrate my skull, and make a video that exposes my vintage thoughts I have regarding Kool and the Gang!!!!! What the hell is going on!!!! Young brother, I am not gone from this world yet, but the perception that you possess in funk is frightening!!!! Wow!!!! I can recall back in 1974 when Summer Madness was out, and I first heard it on my best friend's brother's Sansui 881 with a pair of Cerwin Vega 25's after he came out of the service (a.k.a. military)!!!! Man!!!! I am still feeling the vibes from that song to this day!!! I am at a loss for words, my young brother!!! Brother, you are so articulate in this music genre! I will definitely be firing up my Kenwood KA-7100 and Cerwin Vega 24's for this revisit! Thanks, and God bless you, young man!
BTW - Though I initially heard Summer Madness for the first time back in 1974, I followed up and purchased and still have possession of the 1976 Love and Understanding album, which has the live re-recorded version!
I am 99% sure my ancient keyboard, banished to The Big Closet, is a Keystation 49. :D
Maybe 15 years old? Two addresses ago, but I think still The Bad River Company.
enjoying and learning
It was also featured in the very first Rocky film.