During the 1960s, the
Jazz Crusaders were one of the definitive
soul-jazz/hard bop groups, a quintet that had a distinctive
trombone-tenor sax front line and an openness to a variety of influences
including Memphis soul, R&B, pop, and a bit of John Coltrane. The
four permanent members of the group -- trombonist Wayne Henderson, tenor
saxophonist Wilton Felder, pianist Joe Sample, and drummer Stix Hooper
-- knew each other since childhood and first played together as part of
the marching band of Phyllis Wheatley High School in Houston in the
mid-'50s. They were originally called the Swingsters and, when flutist
Hubert Laws and bassist Henry Wilson joined, the Modern Jazz Sextet.
After moving to Los Angeles in 1958, they struggled for a couple of
years as the Night Hawks, even recording a very obscure record for the
Del Fi label. After Laws left to go to Julliard and Jimmy Bond became
the group's bassist, the newly renamed Jazz Crusaders were signed to
Pacific Jazz, their label during 1961-1970. The group, which continued
with a variety of different bassists, dropped the "Jazz" from its name
in 1971 and Henderson left the band soon afterward, but that is a
different chapter. Mosaic's six-CD set has all of the Jazz Crusaders'
studio recordings except a collaboration with Les McCann (Jazz Waltz)
and two albums with added instruments (Talk That Talk and Chile con
Soul) plus their five live recordings. This perfectly conceived set
reissues in full the albums titled Freedom Sound, Lookin' Ahead, Tough
Talk, Heat Wave, Stretchin' Out, The Thing, Uh Huh, Powerhouse, and Give
Peace a Chance plus 11 previously unreleased selections. The Jazz
Crusaders had their own sound and fans of the group can consider this
essential since it contains all of their studio recordings, some of
which had been out of print for quite a while.
