“I believe music has the ability to heal and educate through the super-conscious use of improvisation, rhythm and pitch. My desire is to create sound that habilitates these qualities.”
Kelvyn Bell

Guitarist/composer Kelvyn Bell, leader of the avant-funk band Kelvynator, follows up his 2015 debut solo recording, St. Louis Blu: Kelvyn Bell Plays Acoustic Guitar, with a new EP titled Cubed Root Cure - a collection of Avant-Funk tracks created with Co-Producer Jack Friederichsen. Bell uses a heavy dose of electronic innovation, blues, jazz, funk and avant-garde as he declares, ”I wanted to create a contrast to my acoustic guitar CD to expresses the grit and wit of today’s contemporary electric sound.”

Born in St. Louis, a place well known for producing innovative contributors to the music world that include Clark Terry, Miles Davis, Chuck Berry, Hamiet Bluiett, Oliver Lake, Lester & Joseph Bowie and Nelly just to name some. Mr. Bell grew up in this rich cultural environment and describes it as such, ”It’s raw intuition. That’s how you learn to play the blues in St. Louis. Some folks think the blues is sad but it’s actually a healing force for the community just like church.”

After studying music theory and composition at The University of Missouri – Columbia and Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville, Bell moved to New York in 1978. His raw intuitive style granted him founding membership into Steve Coleman’s Five Elements, Black Arthur Blythe’s Jazz Quintet, Charles “Bobo” Shaw’s Human Arts Ensemble, Joe Bowie’s Defunkt, The Black Rock Coalition and Lester Bowie’s New York Organ Ensemble. Forming his own avant-funk band Kelvynator in 1986, he proceeded to perform and record as a leader and sideman touring extensively through Europe, the U.S., Asia and parts of Africa.

Bell accepted a teaching position at The Harlem School of the Arts in 1995 where he later became Music Department Director until 2007. During this same time (2002-2010) he became Resident Composer & Musical Director for The Classical Theatre of Harlem earning various theater award nominations and winning an Audelco Award in 2008 for “Archbishop Supreme Tartuffe” starring Andre De Shields.

The art of composing and collaboration also earned Kelvyn the position of Music Director for the feature film “Freedom” starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Sharon Leal in 2014 and co-composer for the award winning documentary “Target St. Louis: Vol 1” in 2021 directed by Damien D. Smith. Portions Mr. Bell’s 2008 theatrical music score for Langston Hughes’ “Black Nativity” were included in the film adaptation “Black Nativity Extended Musical Version” starring Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Forrest Whitaker, Angela Bassett and Nas released by FOX in 2014.

As a member of Craig Harris’ Nation of Imagination, Bell collaborated with the legendary poet Amiri Baraka and later composed music and arrangements for poet/writers Quincy Troupe, Seku Sundiata, and Allison Hedge Coke, The 2016 Witter Bynner Fellowship Recipient.

After more than 35 years of innovative music making, the St. Louis bred guitarist has for the first time decided to record two solo guitar projects Cubed Root Cure (2018) and St. Louis Blu (2015) to add to his catalog of Kelvynator releases Funk 4 Wha Cha Know (2013), Live, Raw and Funky in Switzerland (1995), Refunkanation (1992) and Funk It Up (1986).

Currently Mr. Bell continues to live in Harlem, N.Y. while serving as program director for The Gloster Arts Project, a three-week summer arts camp for children in rural Mississippi. He also records and tours internationally with jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson and Master bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma.