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Bakithi Kumalo On This Month’s Groove – The No Treble Podcast

Bakithi Kumalo is this month’s conversation on Groove – The No Treble Podcast.

You can listen the new episode right here: Groove – The No Treble Podcast – Episode #82 – Bakithi Kumalo.

Who is Bakithi Kumalo?

Seven words say it all: Legendary Grammy Award-winning bass player for Paul Simon. That is all that you need to say, and you can hear the unique fretless groove bass sound of Bakithi Kumalo‘s music in your brain. And it was no small journey to get there from BK’s native Soweto Township of Johannesburg, where he was surrounded by relatives and friends who loved music, while also being surrounded by apartheid. Bakithi worked as a session musician in South Africa during the 1970s and 1980s, but it’s hard not to anchor his enlistment into Paul Simon’s group during the recording sessions for what would become 1985’s Graceland album as a pivotal moment in his life (including his move to the United States). From there, Bakithi has recorded or toured with many of the biggest names in music. From Gloria Estefan and Josh Groban to the Grateful Dead, Herbie Hancock and beyond. It doesn’t stop there, Bakithi is also an accomplished solo artist with over five albums under his belt, including his newest, What You Hear Is What You See. He is legendary. Enjoy the conversation…

What is Groove – The No Treble Podcast?

This is an ambitious effort. This will be a fascinating conversation. Our goal at Groove is to build the largest oral history of bass players. Why Groove? Most of the content about the bass revolves around gear, playing techniques, and more technical chatter. For us, bassists are creative artists with stories to tell. They are a force to be reckon with. These are the stories and conversation that we will capture. To create this oral history of why these artists chose the bass, what their creative lives are like, and where inspiration can be found.

Listen in: Groove – The No Treble Podcast – Episode #82 – Bakithi Kumalo.

Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends).

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.