The Crusaders - Street Life (Featuring Randy Crawford)

At the tender age of 10 years old, I was already an avid music listener and collector. I was a pretty solitary kid, I kicked around in my room with the stereo an awful lot, dreaming of seeing a world that was far away from the four walls within. The Crusaders were a band I had never heard of before, but the first time I heard them on Memphis' own K-97, I was taken. Who is that woman with the voice of the angels? I would find out, after buying the record with my allowance, it was critically-acclaimed vocalist Randy Crawford! By the time I caught wind of them, they were apparently very well known to jazz fans the world over as one of the pre-eminent jazz fusion groups of the 1960's and 1970's. However, sadly, they were also preparing what would be their last album ever.

Wilton Felder, Joe Sample, and Stix Hooper were all that was left of The Crusaders in 1979 when they released an album entitled Street Life. Each of the members had been working on solo projects or other studio projects (including work as session players on the album Aja by Steely Dan and with Joni Mitchell on many of her jazz excursions in the late 1970's). Undoubtedly their most commercial work, the title song would end up on commerical radio, in the top 40, and in the soundtracks to dozens of films. It was my first introduction to their music and one which resonates through my continued love of the players, both individually and as a group.

If you've heard them before, I'm sure you'll excuse my desire to pick their most commercially viable song as a way to introduce them to my throng of younger readers out there who have never had the same opportunity. If this is your first time checking them out and you like what you hear, I really recommend picking up this CD. Let it stir you around, and then let that purchase be followed immediately by their most classic excursion, simply entitled 1, now available only as an import.

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