The Jazz Crusaders - Happy Again (CD)

All Music Guide

When trombonist/producer Wayne Henderson, pianist/keyboardist Joe Sample, saxman Wilton Felder and drummer Stix Hooper changed their name from the Jazz Crusaders to the Crusaders back in 1971, it signaled a more RB-minded direction for the group--they were always funky, but in the ‘70s, they became even funkier. And so, the names Crusaders and Jazz Crusaders came to stand for two different things--if the Jazz Crusaders were synonymous with a funky yet acoustic-oriented approach to hard bop (à la Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers), the Crusaders were about electric-oriented jazz-funk and fusion. In 1995, Henderson (who left the Crusaders in 1975) resurrected the name Jazz Crusaders and produced Happy Again for the small, Los Angeles-based Sin-drome Records. Sample objected to Henderson's use of the name Jazz Crusaders, although Sample and Felder were still part of the Crusaders. Confused? Suffice to say that different improvisers used the two names on different projects in the ‘90s. On Happy... Again, Henderson oversees a lineup that includes Felder as well as trumpeter Donald Byrd, guitarist Larry Carlton, keyboardist Bobby Lyle, vibist Roy Ayers, flutist Hubert Laws and percussionist Poncho Sanchez (among others). With such an impressive cast, Happy Again should have been exceptional; it isn't, although Henderson does give us a generally decent album of electric jazz-funk and pop-jazz. Some might argue that if Henderson was going to resurrect the name Jazz Crusaders, this album should have been more straightahead and bop-oriented--that tracks like "When You're So Far Away" and "Elephant Walk" are too pop-influenced to be called Jazz Crusaders recordings. But while Happy Again is hardly the work of a bop purist, it's still a pleasant, if imperfect, outing--and in 1995, it was nice to hear Henderson taking some trombone solos again. - Alex Henderson, All Music Guide Read more Less