Hollywood Swinging

With their record label, De-Lite, pushing them to be more commercial, Kool & the Gang gathered at a New York studio in September 1973 to record a cover of "Soul Makossa," a record by African-born sax player Manu Dibango that had been heating up Harlem that spring. Instead, the session yielded three hot tracks of their own, including their first #1 R&B hit, "Hollywood Swinging." Ronald Bell, the group's saxophonist and musical director, recalled in a Billboard interview: "We all met for rehearsal at 11:00 am the next morning, and made up 'Funky Stuff, 'Jungle Boogie,' and 'Hollywood Swinging' right there. We recorded them that night at Mediasound on 57th Street - Studio B, downstairs in what used to be the old church morgue. It had a great sound."

The band's keyboardist, Rick Westfield, sings lead on this and was also a driving force in creating the track, which tells the story of seeing Kool & the Gang live onstage and wanting to become "a bad piano-playing man." Ronald Bell explained: "Rick wrote the verses, and it's a true story. We did play in Hollywood [to record Live at P.J.s] and he was taken by it. But while it was a true story, it was really for everybody. As kids, Kool and I used to go see John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Art Blakey, all the jazz greats. We looked up to them and wanted to 'get into a band'."

This was featured in the movies Be Cool (2005), starring John Travolta, and Roll Bounce (2005), starring hip hop artist Bow Wow.