High school friends
Joe Sample (piano),
Wilton Felder (tenor saxophone) and
Nesbert "Stix" Hooper (drums) formed their first band together, the Swingsters, at
Wheatley High School in
Houston, Texas in 1954. While studying at
Texas Southern University, they played a mixture of
jazz and
R&B, and were joined by
Wayne Henderson (trombone),
Hubert Laws (flute), and Henry Wilson (bass). The group soon turned more to
hard bop, and renamed themselves the Modern Jazz Sextet, but also recorded in a more R&B vein as the Nighthawks (or Nite Hawks). In 1960, Sample, Felder, Hooper and Henderson moved to
Los Angeles and formed the Jazz Crusaders as a quintet with a succession of different bass players. Influenced by musicians such as
Cannonball Adderley,
Art Blakey and
John Coltrane, the first of several albums with bassist
Bobby Haynes. In all, the group recorded five live albums in the 1960s, four of which were recorded at the
Lighthouse Café in
Hermosa Beach. They also had their first chart entry, their treatment of
Stevie Wonder's "
Uptight (Everything's Alright)" reaching No. 95 on the
Hot 100 in 1966. The group's 1969 album,
Powerhouse, was their first to reach the
Billboard 200 album chart, reaching No. 184, and was also their last studio album for Pacific Jazz. The group then signed with the Chisa label, co-owned by trumpeter
Hugh Masekela and producer
Stewart Levine. Their 1970 album
Old Socks, New Shoes reached No. 90 on the album chart, and was their last as the Jazz Crusaders. The decision was taken to call the group simply the Crusaders, so as not to limit their scope and potential audience. After a second album with Chisa, (
Pass the Plate, 1971), and one album for the
MoWest label (
Hollywood, 1972) they signed with
Blue Thumb Records, where they remained until the late 1970s. The Crusaders released the album
Crusaders 1 in 1972, including "Put It Where You Want It", covered by the
Average White Band in 1973. Their recordings increasingly adopted a
jazz-funk style. They incorporated electric guitar and bass into their shows and recordings, as well as using Sample's
electric piano and
clavinet.
Chain Reaction (No. 26 album, 1975),
Those Southern Knights (No. 38 album, 1976), and
Images (No. 34 album, 1978). Later albums by the group featured singers
Bill Withers and
Joe Cocker. The live 1982 album
Royal Jam featured guitarist
B. B. King, bassist
James Jamerson, and the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Hooper left in 1983, and though Felder and Sample kept the group operating through the 1980s, the group's commercial success diminished. Felder and Henderson reunited in the mid-1990s as the Crusaders. Wayne Henderson died in Culver City, California on April 5, 2014; Joe Sample died in Houston, Texas on September 12, 2014; and Wilton Felder died in Whittier, California on September 27, 2015. ==Accolades==