The Crusaders: Wilton Felder (tenor sax), Wayne Henderson (trombone), Larry Carlton, Arthur Adams and David T. Walker (electric guitar), Joe Sample (keyboards), Chuck Rainey (electric bass) and Stix Hooper (drums, percussion). From the album Crusaders 1 (1972).
In 1980 The Crusaders launched Rhapsody and Blues and Standing Tall, and in 1981 Live in Japan, which includes a concert from a Japan tour performing Felder, Sample and Hooper with guitarists Roland Bautista and Barry Finnerty, renowned electric bassist Alphonso Johnson and percussionist Rafael Cruz as guest stars. Royal Jam (1982) is also a live album, this time recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in London with the “King of Blues” B.B. King, pop/rock singer Josie James and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Sample arrangements. After Ghetto Blaster (1984), Stix Hooper left the band, which was a very hard blow, and the young Sonny Emory replaced him on drums.
The Crusaders performing live in 1982
In 1986, with only Felder on tenor sax and Sample on keyboards as founding members, The Crusaders presented The Good and the Bad Times with all the songs written by Sample, and in 1988 Life in the Modern World trying to produce a successful album with jazz and rhythm and blues recipes of the time, but without getting it. In 1991 they swiched to GRP Records and launched Healing the Wounds (1991) with funk music, in which plays the superb electric bassist Marcus Miller, and which reached first place in the Top Contemporary Jazz chart. Then the group dissolved because Sample decided to continue his path alone, but trombonist Wayne Henderson, who had left in 1975, came back and refounded it with tenor saxophonist Wilton Felder recovering the original name The Jazz Crusaders.
From left to right: Wilton Felder, Leon “Ndugu” Chancler and Joe Sample
Then they joined the Sin-Drome label and released Happy Again (1995) with Donald Byrd on trumpet, Hubert Laws on flute, Larry Carlton on electric guitar, Bobby Lyle on keyboards, Roy Ayers on vibraphone, Leon “Ndugu” Chancler on drums and Poncho Sanchez on percussion, playing electric jazz-funk and pop-jazz. It was followed by Louisiana Hot Sauce (1996), Break’n Da Rulz! (1998), Power of Our Music: The Endangered Species (2000), Soul Axess (2003), Alive in South America (2006), and Kick the Jazz (2008) with a variety of musicians using synthesizers, sampling and electronics to play smooth jazz, contemporary rhythm and blues and rap. Meanwhile, in 2003, Wilton Felder, Joe Sample and Stix Hooper resurrected The Crusaders and had published Rural Renewal (2003) for Verve Records with trombonist Steve Baxter, guitarist Ray Parker, Jr. and special guest Eric Clapton playing guitar on two tracks. Finally, in 2010, Felder, Henderson and Sample came together for one last tour.
Happy Again cover
© Blue Thumb Records
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