Kahlil Kwame Bell

Growing up, I found my heartbeat in rhythm. I started at the Harlem School of the Arts at age fifteen, studied at Rice High School, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communicative and Creative Arts from the State University of New York College at Old Westbury in 1990. After graduating, I returned to the Harlem School of the Arts to teach percussion, a six-year tenure during which I also performed, recorded, and accompanied jazz legends such as Branford and Wynton Marsalis, James Carter, Roy Hargrove, and Baba Olatunji.

I’ve substituted for Don Alias on tour with David Sanborn, and I’ve played percussion for Erykah Badu on her European leg—an association that led me to work with Prince. My career also includes collaborations with Roberta Flack, Peabo Bryson, James Ingram, Ashford & Simpson, and Luther Vandross, and recording on Morris Robinson’s debut CD with Twinkie Clark of the Clark Sisters. I have traveled the world doing what I love, released eight CDs on my own label, including Gift of Forgiveness_Phone details not available. Sign in: https://www.twine.net/signup_) and Homeland_Phone details not available. Sign in: https://www.twine.net/signup_) that I composed entirely, and I continue to perform with my own group while remaining available for live engagements at venues big and small or for private events.