Bakithi Kumalo Breaks Down His 5 Favourite Bass Lines

Known for some of the finest bass chops on the planet (and for being the subject of serious praise from a certain Paul Simon), Bakithi Kumalo is a man with much to offer those at the low-end. Brought into the studio to record bass on Simon’s 1986 Graceland album, Bakithi has been a member of his band ever since.
To mark the occasion, we linked up with Bakithi to talk through some of his favourite basslines of all time, including cuts from Jaco, James Jamerson and his delightful bass break on You Can Call Me Al.
As always, see you in the shed…
Scott :)
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[@arminhess1512]

such a gentle giant of bass! I could listen to him for hours and hours. Especially when he is talking about South African music.

[@jdmarino]

Nice to hear Bakithi give a shout out to the engineer. I wonder how many of us try to replicate a tone that not even the original bassist made.

[@Killadey]

An ofter overlooked factor indeed.

[@musiqsoundsproductions]

The great thing is, he actually pulled it off playing it backwards too (even though it took him good efford to do so).

[@serkansen0190]

Yes. I have spend so much time trying to recreate sound only so learn that sometimes its just not possible with your equipment.

[@LukeMaynard]

The one thing you really notice about the very, very best musicians is that they are NEVER short of praise for other performers, producers, engineers, and people who make them sound their best. It's the insecure amateurs who spend all their time talking about themselves. The very best spend so much time talking about the people they admire. You can really hear the whole world of music and musicians that went into making these masters who they are.

[@emcardi9999]

It was the bass playing that first caught my ear when I first heard "You Can Call Me Al" that caused me to run, not walk, to the record store to buy "Graceland". I just couldn't get enough of it, that bouncy joy which makes that album sound tremendous.

[@musiqsoundsproductions]

I grew up listening to Simon & Garfunkel. As an adoptee with African heritage, Graceland was one of the first albums that connected me to the motherland. Thank you Bakithi!

[@-Cece]

I grew up with the Graceland album always playing in the house or car. We loved "Call Me Al" because the youngest among us was my brother Alan and we would always point to him and single him out as kids. Now this song stays in our heart, my brother passed away May 10th a few years back. And now we learn that is the calendar date that Bakithi added the bass solo....

[@marcosv.4180]

This MAN has nothing but kindness and gentle words not only for the people who influenced his work, but also for those who worked with him. We all have so much to learn from people like this. Thank you so so much!

[@JSA501stNormandy]

Also I could just listen to Bakithi all day long he has such a beautiful voice and such a wonderful personality. And of course he plays majestically too one of my major influences I have to say.

[@brandongeeslin828]

Seriously! Such a humble, genuine, gracious, and talented person.

[@RaiderClarke312]

I was just starting to learn Bass When I heard Paul Simon Call Me Al Video. Bass Solo blew my mind. Then I got chance to see Graceland Concert in Africa, I finally saw who the Bass Player was. Loved the Bass Playing on that Concert.

[@LukeMaynard]

Hard to hear this sweet man talk about how many of the people he made Graceland with are gone now.I'm very glad & grateful he's still with us. I'm scouring KZbin now looking for gear & tracking tips on bass tracks to improve my bass sound on my next album, and Bakithi Kumalo was hands-down the first or second bass player I thought of by name. A humble man who somehow manages to serve the song he "plays behind" and deliver unbelievably iconic bass lines at the same time.

[@sebastiancardb]

Such a pleassure to listen a legend talk about his work, thank you for giving him the platform to share all of this

[@devinebass]

Thanks for checking out the video dude!

[@danieldevine8588]

What a legend this guy is. This man LOVES playing the bass and he's as good as they come. And a class act too. God bless him

[@moistgooseberry]

Pino would be amazing!

[@dan_drumz]

we need this

[@MrThelonliestpunk]

What an absolutely beautiful human being.

[@philipmcadam5339]

I would love to hear Geddy Lee talk about his favorite bass lines.

[@blakehamilton9769]

That entire call me al story makes me love the song sooo much more. Already thought it was one of the most badass bass breakdowns ever

[@missouriwilkinson9830]

Serendipity! Just started playing bass a month ago, and Graceland is my favorite album of all time. Amazing. What an icon.

[@kongobongo4562]

This guy seems unbelievably sweet. Big kudos. Graceland is one of my favourite albums!

[@pgolliher]

Wow. A great ambassador of humility and humanity. Like many others, I was blown away by how musical and percussive his playing is. Learning diamonds on the soles of her shoes was like learning a completely new instrument. Thank you Bakithi, and thank you Scott for this format and bringing such as amazing guest. Inspiring.

[@devinebass]

Such a dude!

[@level2442]

Remember the first time i heard the bass on Graceland in April 1987 and Bakithi blew my mind. Amazing Musician,unforgetable.....!!!!!

[@karabocalvinleputu6634]

Proudly South African 🇿🇦.

[@D_Tuned]

Let's just shoot for the moon...McCartney, Sting, Flea

[@theguynextdoor4822]

Great content Scott. My suggestions: John Paul Jones or Tony Levin….

[@jimiburns6891]

After all these years, I still marvel at the bass work on the Graceland album, phenomenal

[@alexandersgardencare7802]

This makes me love "Graceland" and the solo on " You can call me Al" even more!!

[@jp00349]

Possibly the best bass video I'll ever see in this life.

[@Reptile8740]

Every bass player watching this was like "yeah me too!" on every song lol All the songs are the perfect songs to inspire you to be better.

[@ismetyalimalatli7581]

I grew up listening to Graceland, it was my favorite music when I was a kid, especially Boy in the Bubble. Bakhiti is not the reason why I started play bass (Steve Harris is) but definitely one of my heroes. Legend on his own rights. When he said "menories ..." I had a tear in my eye too.

[@HouseholdDog]

He has amazing groove. Really amazing. It just flows out of him like a torrent.

[@dennishemstra]

Love it! What a great humble and thankful guy. And of course an awesome bass player!

[@lionelmaalikduvalsaint415]

That is a great concept Scott! Id love to see 1st Richard Bona, 2nd Tal Wilkenfeld, 3rd Joe Dart, 4th Michael Manring, 5th Sting!

[@danverweire6527]

I have enjoyed these bass lines by this dude for decades. Only saw him in a couple live videos. I am so grateful to see him for who he is as a human. I'm enamored.

[@JadeEyeland]

Absokutely inspirational tonfind out the dude is as chill as his basslines

[@Timmay-yy6ej]

What a legend. Love this guy, so happy when he plays ♥️.

[@jeffdevries5044]

Yes, Scott, it's great to hear these stories! Thanks for doing this.

[@McDoinky]

Babbitt played on the second half of What’s Going On. Inner City Blues and Right On are incredible tracks.

[@krissantos5170]

right now he is performing live in East Setauket New York... right near me... for all days for my car to fail!... I'm stranded at home... luckily wUSB is broadcasting it live... (in between sets he's teaching kids bass off stage)

[@PeterDStephens]

So incredibly cool to hear this absolute legend tell his story. Thanks for doing this Scott and team! It's very much appreciated.

[@richardselby1711]

This guy is for real, he's really striking a great inspirational nerve with me. Chuck Rainey is another huge inspiration, the man knows music.

[@jasfan8247]

Legend goes that Chuck Rainey also played on some Motown recordings. It's between him and Wilton Felder who played the bass on "Want You Back" ?

[@nick_moretti]

Bakithi came to my college and spoke! Truly inspirational and phenomenal bassist.

[@hsvideos4516]

Why is it that the best bass players seem to all be so gentle and humble? Thank you Jaco!

[@Daniel-kx4sy]

Love all the Bakithi videos. Grew up lisyening to Graceland. I've loved this guy and his lines since childhood. Literally before I even knew what a bass was.

[@garethshepherd661]

Bloody brilliant! I remember watching the SA Paul Simon gig in the 80's as a kid and there he was, Fretless bass, shades and Afro....1st song they played "Boy In The Bubble"...

[@austrianpainter9911]

Listen to diamonds on the soles of their shoes live. This man's ridiculous on that

[@NightmansSexyHands]

That was so unbelievably enjoyable to watch. Thanks so much.

[@kevgamble]

Love this video. Love his unique style, love the stories, love seeing and hearing his playing so up close and personal. Thank you!

[@matthewlunsford4351]

Loved this! Anymore of these you want to do I'll watch.

[@nickgontarski]

Mr Kumalo, was your birthday, and YOU gave the world a present

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@dedmouse]

Probably one of my top three bass players, Abraham Laboriel and Jaco Pastorious being the other two. I had tears in my eyes listening to him speak...the knowledge, the experiences and his humbleness spoke to my emotions. Bless you Mr. Kumalo. You are among the greats.

[@johannecousineau4343]

Thank you Bakithi for this great video and for your wonderful bass playing!

[@r3ality1]

Great format idea. Love it!!

[@maartenarnou]

What a lovely soul, and such an inspiring bass player! Every bass player should listen to Graceland. And possibly learn a couple of Bakithi's wonderful bass lines!

[@VioletSpaceship]

It would be really cool to see Thundercat do this!

[@cmanonbass]

there is a video like this with Thundercat tho haha

[@rayword2794]

@@cmanonbass Yep. Exactly like this with better graphics!

[@martobassig]

Heres kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHqblHyQbrt8psk

[@matthewJ142]

Because he sucks!

[@edjefferson9175]

Original is ALWAYS best.

[@TheRetroRoadshow]

There is such a joyous feeling in watching an absolute master of an artistic skill doing their thing. Thank you for making and sharing this video!

[@gamingdoggy3597]

Fantastic editing man.

[@adamgoodhue]

He not only killed the Call Me Al bass break live but would add some blistering fills in the break that were face melting

[@arielgomez2967]

I loved the ending learn and make your own yeah baby ! Yeah !

[@recomusicofficial]

What an amazing and humble guy!

[@themissklavounos5789]

Fantastic!

[@glencanyon7845]

This is priceless. Thank you.

[@devinebass]

No problem! Bakithi is an absolute monster, and soooo worth learning from!

[@jean-pierrerobert9327]

Thank you so much for sharing this!

[@hoshisato2687]

What a beautiful, sweet, generous soul!

[@devinebass]

🧡🧡🧡

[@fourfortymusic9618]

Probably the first bass breakdown that changed my life!!!

[@didpip]

I recall seeing Bakithi on the live broadcast of the "Live in Central Park" show. I was so excited to see him live. At the time 19 year old me had no idea of how to pronounce his name. As a result he will always be "Uncle Funkypants" in my heart. GREAT player!

[@keepgrindingup7661]

Ohh my... Boy in the Bubble IS INCREDIBLE. Such feel

[@devinebass]

💯💯💯

[@pacosoundaruba]

What a wonderful person he is!! Really inspiring!

[@stevewilley1367]

I got to jam him at a charity event. It was so effortless and smooth. A major highlight in my music career.

[@willrobinson7578]

Loved this

[@BruceCassidy]

Hey Bakithi - I loved that - great to see you man! Great memories - Respect!

[@joseramonperez5756]

Thanks.Master Kumalo

[@DOGroove]

Bakithi! Awesome player and amazing person.

[@timgehrsitz3267]

Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes is my favorite baseline of all time, hands down. I'm shocked it's not talked about enough, especially when there's a whole version of Diamonds with just bass and Acapella vocals

[@erich1394]

I remember there used to be a video on youtube with Bathiki playing the bassline solo on a fretless - if Bathiki did a solo cover of everything on graceland, I would buy it in a heartbeat. I'm honestly not much of a Paul Simon fan... but Bathiki made the album one of my favorites.

[@reedturchi]

This might be one of the most valuable music-learning videos I've ever seen on the internet, and I've spent a LOT of time learning music on the internet.

[@BlueSaphire70]

What a sweetheart! And what a talent! May he live long and prosper!

[@PatrickLarson]

Just learning at 55, and I've got many people to thank for showing me the way. Awesome video, Scott!

[@devinebass]

🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

[@shodapad07]

Lovely

[@paulkevinspencer6932]

LOVED IT!!!

[@bradynorris1653]

Astounding.

[@joshjosh25694]

Bheka mthethwa should be invited too scott. He's an amazing bassist

[@makusmati]

Very awesome,thanks .

[@40spinup]

Love love love this!! Bakithi Kumalo was such an influence on me when Graceland came out but I never really realised it. His sound is so distinctively him, especially the fretless work. Love this concept so please do more Scott. Michael League would be awesome but you know who the players are so surprise us. Who would YOU like to do?

[@BrickSomething]

In general, this is a great format. It doesn’t even have to be insanely popular players, tho that’s great. I just love hearing bassists talk about their craft and influences. We’ve got plenty of videos out there about Internet personalities talking about great bassists, but if you can do this as a standard format for featuring working or once working bassists who talk about the players that influenced them, I think it’d deepen the channel’s appeal and create vids tailor made for sharing and repeat viewing. As a player who started as a 13 year old in 1989, I’m continually blown away at the state of bass playing in 2021. Back in the day, people used to give me side eye when I’d say, “I play bass.” Nowadays, more and more people recognize the significance of the instrument and pay more attention to bassists. Your channel along with several others has helped do this. I hope you consider continuing this video format and take my feedback. We don’t always have to hear from already popular bass players. There’s a lot to mine from underground and indie acts from the 90s and 00s that have gone untapped and unfeatured. Not saying they’re all somehow “amazing” players in the sense of a Pastorius, Wooten, Dey, Flea, Thundecat, etc. but they’re all players that we can appreciate, learn from, or just be exposed to.

[@garrettlowell7637]

Definitely great content.

[@Thorsten_Kueppers]

10:22 What the heck … Backwards?!? That‘s genius, didn‘t know this until now. Great!

[@andrewpalmer7133]

One of my favorite bass players! He’s so humble and has a great attitude. As far as a who id like to hear from Brian Ritchie or Leigh Gorman

[@jorgemartins5023]

I love his work, he's also so down to earth and brilliant musician

[@Rumanhavlan]

joe dart would be amazing

[@an1k199]

Very nice idea to let bassists present their favorite basslines! I like it! 😁

[@carlcushmanhybels8159]

Wow! Great!

[@alextinsley9117]

That was very cool, and yes! Great format! Very instructive. Next up...., Geddy Lee?

[@EjTnT]

God bless Bakithi

[@AlbertKimMusic]

Such a legend

[@hank3266]

WOW ! great Video

[@paulsalinas1524]

Glorious!

[@dumichide4178]

Ur a bass legend bra!! Malawi approves.

[@marvelousmachine9682]

Wonderful 🙏Thank you

[@leobassii]

Love it...😍 I'm going to ask for a bass solo on my birthday...😉

[@reclaimingminds2811]

What a absolute legend ❤

[@phoogervorst4510]

Great guy, with great basslines!

[@NightmansSexyHands]

Oh my God- teach! This man NEEDS to teach young players. He is born to assist in the growth of others.

[@shodapad07]

Respect to this Man for his music but more importantly, for his Integrity for giving his shoutout to all he worked with.

[@ultimatefunktimegroovystan7885]

Great Stuff. Even a master like Bakithi is still humble and wanting to learn

[@mumblbeebee6546]

I wonder how many of them will be as inspiring, enlightening and considerate as this giant but _hell yes_ why would I not want hear more such insights? I recall Ron Thal and Billy Sheehan do something similar and it’s just great! I also loved that you did not constrain it only to other people’s lines - why should he not love his own playing, it’s gorgeous and influential!