Customer Reviews

Southern Comfort

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Tight rhythms, punchy bass lines, soulful, funky guitar leads, and one of the most exciting sax/trombone combos in 70s jazz. Without a doubt a true classic and great introduction into the world of the Crusaders. A culmination of years of playing together, before their albums became overproduced. A gem for aging hipsters, jazz enthusiasts, and a revelation to the acid jazz/hip-hop crowd. Turn it up loud and groove!

An excellent choice for MCA to punch out in 1997. This CD combines the complete Double LP issued in 1974 from Blue Thumb records. The original liner notes are lacking but that is the only hiccup with this CD.

The combined talents of Joe Sample(Keyboards), Wayne Henderson (Trombone), Wilton Felder(Tenor Sax), Stix Hooper(Drums) and Larry Carlton(Guitar) take this CD to the pinnacle of the Crusaders career.

Tight and well-balanced with a musical bravado that matched the time (1974). It still does.

Combine the Crusaders "Groove Crusade" with "Southern Comfort" and you will have a complete retrospective of one of the Grand Groups of Funk.

This CD captures the Crusaders at their peak: Driving, infections rhythms, compositions built to solo over, great ensemble arrangements and top-notch solos by Wilton Felder (tenor and soprano sax), Joe Sample (piano), Wayne Henderson, trombone and Larry carlton, guitar.

Tremendous music from start to finish, with Felder's tenor solo on "Whispering Pines" and soprano solo on "Lilies of the Nile" especially delightful.

Here's a group of musicians with a command of a variety of styles and putting it on exhibit. Soulful, funky, clever, exotic, bluesy, improvisational, all are present. The whole quintet is here Wilton Felder on Saxophones and bass, Stix Hooper on drums, Joe Sample on Piano and Keybaords, Larry Carlton on Guitars and Wayne Henderson on Trombone. The longer pieces such as "Whispering Pines", "When There's Love Around", "Lilies of the Niles" and "Ballad for Joe Louis" are jazzier, they stretch and solo very well. Very good arrangments. There is a fine sense of dynamics. Then you have such pieces "Stomp and Buck Dance", "Time Bomb", "The Well's Gone Dry" and many of the rest where they are earthy, funky and soulful. An excellent recording by a fine group of musicians. It's hard to pick a hero in this recording, since they all shine at different spots.

WOW. The moment you press play (make sure the volume is HIGH) you will be a huge fan. The drums and bass together provide an extra funky-pocket for the rest of these guys to throw down upbeat to mellow jazz/grooves. This album has great sound quality, close to later Steely Dan albums. Buy it. Like another wrote before me, "it's greasy funk".

Ok, let's get something straight right up front. This IS great music and worthy of your hard-earned money. This AIN'T jazz regardless of what all these other reviewers might think. Once upon a time the gentlemen who made this music worked under the moniker of The Jazz Crusaders. People, there is a reason why thy dropped the word "Jazz" from their namesake. This is funk/r&b/rock/pop music with jazz instrumentation and the musicians work from a body of knowledge they acquired while working as jazz musicians. It is very enjoyable despite any labels one might like to apply.

Enough of that. This is great music, one of The Crusaders' early offerings. It was either their third or fourth opus if memory serves me correctly. I owned Southern Nights on 8 Track when it first came out. I have fond memories of driving around in my souped up 1973 Pontiac Lemans and playing this quite a bit. While everyone else in my circle was still stuck on Dark Side of the Moon and Stairway to Heaven I was groovin' to the Crusaders' funk. Just listen to Greasy Spoon. It is right down there wallowing around in the filthiest, nastiest blues you can imagine.

I strongly recommend this one, it was one of the last releases before Joe Sample and the other guys started allowing the production to get in the way of making great music - I think there were a couple more good ones actually, Those Southern Knights for example.

After picking this up and playing it non-stop for the past 24 hours I think I'm going to have to pick up the entire 1970 - 1975 catalog. I play guitar in a "jazz" band and I think we would do very well for ourselves to lighten up and play some of this funky stuff.

Buy it.

And by the way, if you like the early Crusaders then I recommend picking up Herbie Hancock's Fat Albert Rotunda. Released in 1970 (2 full years before the Crusaders dropped "jazz" from their moniker and re-invented themselves, Herbie's Fat Albert Rotunda may very well have been the model for the Crusaders sound. It is strikingly similar. Fat Albert Rotunda is available on Mwandishi Herbie Hancock - The Complete Warner Bros Recordings.

The moment you put this cd in (make sure the volume is nice and high) you will love it. The drums keep a incredeble POCKET-O-FUNK for the rest of these guys to throw down those good-feelin' sounds. Can't go wrong with this one. Time bomb, is just what it is, A BOMB, the groove is just what the doctor ordered.

i was looking for this album in one of the amazon lists of essential jazz tonight so that i could look in similar style albums for something new. as i failed to find this album listed in any of the 12 lists (12!), i thought whomever put those lists together was obviously either too young to be aware of this album, or simply too clueless.
this is an album that i would put in the top ten of any list of jazz that i would create. these musicians were incredible in this album (and in Free As The Wind), and this album contains maybe my favorite all time jazz instrumental (the whole album is instrumental, as i recall).
there are no bad pieces on this album. like pink floyd's the dark side of the moon, or peter gabriel's so, you just move from one outstanding tune to the next. and it never gets old. i've been listening to it since it came out in 1974 and i still have to turn up the sound when one of my compilations plays a tune from this album.
BUY IT.
and don't forget to turn up the volume.

Started listening to the Crusaders in the Army, when Blacks and Rabbits still listened to some sounds and did a little smoke. Got along well in Stuttgart-Vinagin Germany, at the HQ European Command at Patch Barracks. If anyone from that era is still around, think back when Willis, Ray, Steve and Steve Barlow and Larry Bertoncin and I enjoyed this and a few other vinals.

The CD is in poor condition. A couple of the songs will not play as designed. Half way through the song, the music shuts completely off. This CD should be replaced or I should get a full refund.