Chain Reaction

The core of the Crusaders had been playing together for 20 years when they recorded this 1975 session, and they were at the peak of their popularity. You can call this music a form of fusion, but it's a group that always had its roots in populist rhythm & blues, coming of age in the era when Horace Silver and Bobby Timmons were first mating roots music and modern jazz. The big-toned combination of Wilton Felder's tenor and Wayne Henderson's trombone gives added weight to this riff-based gumbo, with Larry Carlton's guitar adding detail to the Stax-Volt ambience that stokes this music. Felder was always the band's outstanding soloist, a flexible tenor player who could add touches of Coltrane to the legacy of Illinois Jacquet. --Stuart Broomer