Mud Hole

The Crusaders: Wilton Felder (tenor sax), Wayne Henderson (trombone), Larry Carlton, Arthur Adams and David T. Walker (electric guitar), Joe Sample (keyboards), Chuck Rainey (electric bass) and Stix Hooper (drums, percussion). From the album Crusaders 1 (1972).

Wilton Felder was an American tenor saxophonist and electric bassist who was born in Houston and studied music at Texas Southern University. In 1960 he moved to Los Angeles with trombonist Wayne Henderson, pianist Joe Sample and drummer Stix Hooper, and created The Jazz Crusaders. In 1961 they signed with Pacific Jazz Records and published eighteen albums throughout the 1960s playing hard bop combined with gospel, soul and rhythm and blues, producing a sound that, while based on jazz, was also accessible to pop/rock listeners. In 1971 the members of the group decided to change its name to The Crusaders and play jazz-funk. Felder continued throughout the new period until 1991, when Sample wanted to pursue a solo career, having participated in the twenty albums the band had recorded. Also, he refounded it with Henderson recovering the original name The Jazz Crusaders and launching six more albums from 1995 to 2006.

In 1968 Felder also started playing electric bass and working as a studio musician performing his two instruments, and the first major album he collaborated in was California Soul (1968) by trumpeter, composer and big band bandleader Gerald Wilson. In 1969 he edited his debut as a leader Bullitt with the Pacific Jazz label. That same year he participated in Memphis Jackson by veteran jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson of the Modern Jazz Quartet, and then in King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa (1970) by French jazz fusion violinist Jean Luc-Ponty; in Reconstruction (1970) by South African singer, trumpeter and composer Hugh Masekela; in Here Comes Shuggie Otis (1970) and Freedom Flight (1971) by singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer Shuggie Otis; in Shades of Green (1971) and Live at The Lighthouse (1972) by legendary bebop, hard bop and soul jazz guitarist Grant Green; in Constant Throb (1971), Waterfalls (1972) and Magic and Movement (1974) by saxophonist and composer John Klemmer.

In Paris 1919 (1972) by singer, composer and record producer John Cale: in Root Down (1972) by Hammond B-3 organist and soul jazz father Jimmy Smith; in For the Roses (1972), Court and Spark (1974) and The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1976) by Canadian folk, jazz, rock and pop singer and composer Joni Mitchel; in Pretzel Logic (1974) by rock band Steely Dan, where he matched with his The Crusaders bandmate Chuck Rainey; in Can’t Hide Love (1976) by renowned jazz singer Carmen McRae; in Summer Breeze (1972), Diamond Girl (1973), I’ll Play for You (1975), Get Closer (1976) and Sudan Village (1976) by the soft rock duo Seals and Crofts; and in Free Ride (1977) by trumpeter and bebop celebrity Dizzy Gillespie. In 1978 Felder signed with MCA Records and published We All Have a Star (1978), Inherit the Wind (1980), Gentle Fire (1983), Secrets (1985) and Love Is a Rush (1987). In 1991 he switched to the PAR label and Nocturnal Moods (1991) and Forever, Always (1992) went on the market. He finally issued Lets Spend Some Time (2005) for BCS Records. Felder died in 2015 of multiple myeloma (bone marrow cancer) at age 75.