With the recent deaths of Joe Sample and Wilton Felder, the seminal 70s funk-jazz ensemble the Crusaders aren’t ever coming back. But you wouldn’t know this from taking in the debut, self-titled disc from the tenacious, funkified jazz of Groove Legacy, a new band seeking to keep that same old feeling. A newer generation of crack session players from the same LA scene from whence the Crusaders were a part of formed this band not to pay homage per se but to keep this music alive with fresh material.
Groove Legacy is led by modern day Wrecking Crew musicians: saxophonist Paul Cerra, keyboardist Bill Steinway and bassist Travis Carlton. They’re joined by guitarists Kirk Fletcher and Sam Meek, drummer Lemar Carter and trombonist Andrew Lippman. Collectively, these cats have played alongside the likes of Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Rickie Lee Jones, Sara Bareilles, Boz Scaggs, Carrie Underwood, Rod Stewart, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Natalie Cole, Patti Austin, Sergio Mendes, Lenny Kravitz and many more.
With Lippman and Cerra playing the role of that formidable Wayne Henderson/Wilton Felder trombone/tenor sax front line, Steinway anchored to a Fender Rhodes and Carlton totally mastering Felder’s far underrated bass, Groove Legacy replicates the same ingredients that made the original, Creole funk gumbo back in the 70s. Indeed, from Carlton’s opening bass riff that launches “Sweetness (For Walter Payton),” — followed by the horns leading funky theme lines — it’s Southern Comfort and Chain Reaction all over again. Cerra blasts away on tenor with all the fervor of Felder, and Fletcher’s stinging guitar lead affirms his blues credentials as Steinway keeps his Rhodes in the flow and in the pocket.
That nicely sets the table for the rest of an album that offers us everything that’s been largely missing from groove jazz when it morphed into smooth jazz sometime in the 80s: songs with thought-out chord changes and actual bridges, solos that are overflowing with real jazz chops and tight ensemble playing that doesn’t rely on sleek production to make the magic happen.
Some of these originals, all composed by some combination of the band’s three linchpins, has a doppelganger from the Crusaders’ catalog. The gospel intro to “Cornell” hearkens back to the David ‘Fathead’ Newman cover “Hard Times” that brought the house down on the live Scratch release (that’s Ricky Peterson on the Hammond B3) and the dual-rhythm guitars of “Moneybags” sports the same Crusaders swaying rhythm guitars paired with a popping bass that traces all the way back their 1970 take on Sly and Family Stone’s “Thank You Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Again”. The urban, bluesy soul of “My Someday Girl” recalls Sample’s earnest melody, “A Ballad For Joe (Louis)”.
But the band reaches beyond the influence of a single band on many other tracks, too; “47 Degree Angle” channels the organ/guitar combos of the 60s via John Scofield’s “Kool,” and “H-town Hipster”, even with its reference to the Crusaders’ Houston hometown has a tough, dense groove typified by New York’s “Stuff” funk-jazz collective active around the same time as the Crusaders.
A couple of old hands from the classic-era West coast scene lend some support on a track a piece: “Cornell” (presumably a tribute to the late East coast’s guitar great Cornell Dupree) features Travis’ dad and former Crusader axeman Larry Carlton. Any doubts about Larry still being able craft the tastiest leads in the business are quickly dispelled on this song. Robben Ford guests on the very next song “The Know It All,” where his blues-minded guitar licks always hit the sweet spot. Lee Thornburg, who’s lent his trumpet to everyone from the Doobie Brothers to Dwight Yoakum, makes the two-man horn section a fuller-sounding threesome for “Memphis 40 Oz Hang,” which is underpinned by a street tough groove led by Carlton’s spot-on bass and highlighted by Cerra’s raw RnB sax solo on the bridge.
Thing is, though, that Groove Legacy doesn’t need big name guest performers to make great, danceable rockin’ jazz. Paul Cerra, Travis Carlton and Bill Steinway are new torchbearers who have the wherewithal to resurrect the glorious past of contemporary jazz with all the intuition and understanding of those who were there.
Halleluiah, the Crusaders live on.
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