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The Jazz Crusaders: Putting the 'Jazz' back into the 'Crusaders'

Wayne Henderson, one of the original Jazz Crusaders members, stopped by the KPLU studios with the rest of the band on Thursday for an interview & performance hosted by Abe Beeson.
Justin Steyer
/
KPLU
Wayne Henderson, one of the original Jazz Crusaders members, stopped by the KPLU studios with the rest of the band on Thursday for an interview & performance hosted by Abe Beeson.

When Joe Sample (piano), Wilton Felder (saxophone), and Wayne Henderson (trombone) moved from Houston to LA to being their collective recording career, they called their band The Jazz Crusaders.  Their focus was acoustic be-bop tinged with R&B and soul music.  In 1971, they dropped the word ‘Jazz’ from their name, began delving into jazz-funk and became world-famous as The Crusaders

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqDX4Hm84mI

For all intents and purposes the group disbanded in the 1990’s, but they’re now touring again as The Jazz Crusaders.  So why did they drop the ‘Jazz’ in the first place?  That’s one of the questions that Abe Beeson asks the band in this studio session. 

As Abe’s questions are answered by Sample and Felder, it quickly becomes apparent that these men have known each other for many, many years and still take great delight in each others’ company.  There’s a lot of comfortable good humor in the interview and a lot of experience and heart in the music they play.  The Jazz Crusaders are back (with solid rhythm support from drummer Doug Belote and Joe’s son, Nicklas Sample, on bass).

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Studio Sessions Live Studio Sessions
Justin joined KNKX in 2009 as the station's first Multimedia Manager. In this role, Justin helped to produce multimedia content, and implement systems and procedures in efforts to transform KNKX from a traditional broadcast station into a multi-platform media organization.
Abe grew up in Western Washington, a 3rd generation Seattle/Tacoma kid. It was as a student at Pacific Lutheran University that Abe landed his first job at KNKX, editing and producing audio for news stories. It was a Christmas Day shift no one else wanted that gave Abe his first on-air experience which led to overnights, then Saturday afternoons, and started hosting Evening Jazz in 1998.