The Jazz Crusaders - Tough Talk
Released - 1973
Recording and Session Information
Pacific Jazz Studios, Hollywood, CA, May 24, 1961
Wayne Henderson, trombone; Wilton Felder, tenor sax; Joe Sample, piano; "Sticks" Hooper, drums; and featuring guest musicians: Roy Gaines, guitar #3; Jimmy Bond, bass.
M.J.S. Funk
That's It
E7912 Freedom Sound
Pacific Jazz Studios, Hollywood, CA, February 13, 1963
Wayne Henderson, trombone; Wilton Felder, tenor sax; Joe Sample, piano, harpsichord; Stix Hooper, drums; and Bobby Haynes, bass.
Tough Talk
No Name Samba
Lazy Canary
Pacific Jazz Studios, Hollywood, CA, February 19, 1963
Wayne Henderson, trombone; Wilton Felder, tenor sax; Joe Sample, piano, harpsichord; Stix Hooper, drums; and Bobby Haynes, bass.
Turkish Black
Lonely Horn
Pacific Jazz Studios, Hollywood, CA, September 24, 1963
Wayne Henderson, trombone; Wilton Felder, tenor sax; Joe Sample, piano; Stix Hooper, drums; and Bobby Haynes, bass.
Free Sample
Pacific Jazz Studios, Hollywood, CA, September 25, 1963
Wayne Henderson, trombone; Wilton Felder, tenor sax; Joe Sample, piano; Stix Hooper, drums; and Bobby Haynes, bass.
Close Shave
Some Samba
Stix March
Pacific Jazz Studios, Hollywood, CA, September 26, 1963
Wayne Henderson, trombone; Wilton Felder, tenor sax; Joe Sample, piano; Stix Hooper, drums; and Bobby Haynes, bass.
Purple Onion
Pacific Jazz Studios, Hollywood, CA, July 19, 1964
Wayne Henderson, trombone, euphonium; Wilton Felder, tenor, alto sax; Joe Sample, piano; Stix Hooper, drums; and Joe Pass, guitar #2; Monk Montgomery, Fender bass.
Long John
I'll Remember Tomorrow
Pacific Jazz Studios, Hollywood, CA, July 2, 1965
Wayne Henderson, trombone; Wilton Felder, tenor sax; Joe Sample, piano; Nesbert Hooper, drums; and Hubert Laws Jr., flute; Clare Fischer, organ; Al McKibbon, bass; Carlos Vidal, congas; Hungaria Garcia, timbales, cowbell.
Aqua Dulce (Sweetwater)
Track Listing
| Side One | ||
| Title | Author | Recording Date |
| Tough Talk | W. Henderson/J. Sample/S. Hooper | February 13 1963 |
| Aqua Dulce (Sweetwater) | J. Sample | July 2 1965 |
| Turkish Black | W. Felder | February 19 1963 |
| I'll Remember Tomorrow | J. Sample | July 19 1964 |
| Side Two | ||
| The Freedom Sounds | J. Sample | May 24 1961 |
| Longjohn | W. Felder | July 19 1964 |
| The Lonely Horn | W. Felder | February 19 1963 |
| Side Three | ||
| Close Shave | J. Sample | September 25 1963 |
| M.J.S. Funk | W. Henderson | May 24 1961 |
| Purple Onion | W. Felder | September 26 1963 |
| Some Samba | W. Henderson | September 25 1963 |
| Free Sample | J. Sample | September 24 1963 |
| Side Four | ||
| No Name Samba | W. Felder | February 13 1963 |
| Stix March | S. Hooper | September 25 1963 |
| Lazy Canary | W. Henderson | February 13 1963 |
| That's It | W. Felder | May 24 1961 |
Liner Notes
The World Pacific Jazz Label is Defunct. However, The Jazz Crusaders, better known as The Crusaders are very much alive. They have been influencing music for as long as Dali has been influencing canvas. Having "gigged" together for some twenty years, Joe Sample, Wilton Felder, Wayne Henderson and Stix Hooper have managed to overcome the usual obstacles of personnel changes, epochs of music and record company turmoil.
Early in their careers, they called themselves The NiteHawks, then the Jazz Crusaders. Later dropping the prefix Jazz when they were signed to Chisa Records. The distinctive sound of The Crusaders as people know them today did not evolve overnight. Their music was an incremental growth which began sometime during the early 1950s when they were jamming in Junior High School together. The Crusaders musical careers was actually launched in1961 when they moved to Los Angeles. Curtis Amy, a former inhabitant of Houston and a leading tenor in and around Los Angeles introduced them to World Pacific Jazz Records.
Now, some twenty or more albums later, Blue Note Records has dipped into the archives of its sister label. Some of The Crusaders finest works are contained in this album, previously unavailable to the buying public.
The Crusaders have introduced some of the finest chords in flowing funk, progressive rhythm and smoking good time music. It is appropriate that they were one of the first Jazz groups to break Pop and R&B. If one speaks of musicianship, then each man is an individual in the creative process which results in musical autonomy; whether he is doing a session for others or they are collectively laying tracks for themselves.
Any Crusaders' album guarantees two basic elements. First, the music of Sample, "Stix" Henderson and Felder, second, some of the most creative music ever sequenced on disc.
The fact is irrelevant as to why you have purchased this album. Possibly this is your first introduction to The Crusaders, or perhaps a probe into their musical roots is necessary. Whatever your reason, it is seldom that four men together have dedicated their secular lives to finding happiness, contentment and a feeling of self-actualization in music. Especially a true musical art form as Jazz.
Jere Hausfater
Blue Note Records
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