Given the critical and commercial success of 1 and their rebirth as the "Crusaders," the band decided to follow up the previous LP's double length with another one! There...
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In the '90s, things became complicated for the Crusaders fans. Keyboardist Joe Sample, and tenor saxman Wilton Felder, recorded 1991's Healing the Wounds as the Crusaders...
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The Jazz Crusaders dropped the "jazz" from their name after over a decade of popular recordings for the Pacific Jazz label, and they switched record companies for the first...
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Priceless Jazz is a good midline sampler of highlights from the Crusaders' recordings for MCA and GRP. Although this isn't a definitive collection, it offers representative...
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Virtually all of this 28-song anthology covers the years 1962-68, during which Christian ran through numerous lineups and achieved only one small British hit, the...
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The music on this four-CD box set is mostly excellent, and this is not a bad sampler of the recordings of the (Jazz) Crusaders, but there are some problems. The 1961-70...
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As a band, the Crusaders were always the most respected, as intelligence and earthiness permeated throughout their best work. The group -- Joe Sample on keyboards, Wilton...
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In 1989, MCA released Chain Reaction/Those Southern Knights, which contained two complete albums -- Chain Reaction (1975), originally released on Blue Thumb and Those...
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One of the tastiest concoctions of the mid-'70s jazz-fusion era, Chain Reaction finds the Crusaders at the top of their form. The compositions are both accessible and...
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There's a terrific reason why the triple-CD Crusaders retrospective The Golden Years included six of Free as the Wind's eight tracks -- the material. Indeed, side one of the...
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The Crusaders' sound had changed by 1978 due to the decision of trombonist Wayne Henderson to become a fulltime producer, and the gradual dominance of funky R&B rhythms....
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This CD contains selections from a triumphant Japanese tour which saw three-fourths of the original lineup augmented by such guest stars as guitarists Barry Finnerty and...
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In 1980, MCA released Rhapsody and Blues/Standing Tall, which contained two complete albums -- Rhapsody and Blues (1980), originally released on MCA and Standing Tall...
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The Crusaders' follow-up to Street Life did not result in any additional hits (does anyone remember Bill Withers' vocal on "Soul Shadows?") and found the group's R&Bish...
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Around this time in their heyday, the Crusaders were experimenting with orchestral/jazz fusions in concert -- and MCA thought enough of them to capture the music in London's...
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Recorded live at the Roxy, Scratch was one of the Crusaders' best recordings, an extravaganza of jazz and funk with great soloing from the group on top of a set of excellent...
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The follow-up to 1973's Unsung Heroes was the first of the group's Blue Thumb efforts to be distributed by ABC Records. The label switch also coincided with the inclusion of...
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Although the Crusaders could not have known it at the time, their recording of "Street Life" (which features a memorable vocal by Randy Crawford) was a last hurrah for the...
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Funny, we can't remember this many singers turning up on the Crusaders' albums, but look a little closer at the liner. For this 1987 compilation -- designed, perhaps, to...
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Issued in 1992, the first of GRP's Crusaders boxes deliberately limits its reach to a 20-year stretch, stopping just before the crucial departure of drummer Stix Hooper --...
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Deep in their prime period, the Crusaders reaffirm their affinity with the groove and rely entirely upon all six of their funky selves for their material. "My Mama Told Me...
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The music on this Crusaders set is quite pleasant, but unfortunately none of the original melodies are all that catchy or unique; a remake of "Hard Times" (which was...
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The Crusaders became a part-time group after the early '80s and by 1986 drummer Stix Hooper had departed. This final set by what was left of the group finds the two original...
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After a career that spanned the '60s with a number of releases on Pacific Jazz records as the Jazz Crusaders, the beginning of the '70s found the band dropping the jazz...
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