Wayne Henderson (1939-2014)

Three boyhood friends began playing together as the Swingsters at Phyllis Wheatley Junior High School in Houston in 1952. They were Wilton Felder, tenor saxophone; Joe Sample, piano; and Nesbert "Stix" Hooper, drums. When Joe Sample went to Texas Southern University, he met added trombonist Wayne Henderson to the group. Their musical partnership lasted 25 years, recording first as the Jazz Crusaders, and later as just the Crusaders. Sadly, Wayne Henderson died April 5 in Culver City, CA, of heart failure brought on by diabetes. He was born in Houston on September 24, 1939; he was 74.

After high school, the group played on the Gulf Coast under various names, eventually moving to California in the late '50s. A number of different men played bass with the group, all probably feeling like odd men out. They began their career playing straight-ahead hard bop. When they signed with Pacific Jazz Records in 1961, they took the name the Jazz Crusaders. Here they are on television in the early '60s playing the title song from their first album, "Freedom Sound."

Although they were sometimes called the Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers of the West Coast, their blues and gospel influences produced what they called the Gulf Coast sound. The four permanent members shared songwriting responsibilities almost equally. Here is one of Henderson's more highly regarded compositions, "The Young Rabbits."

The music most jazz fans consider to be their best is collected on the 6-CD Mosaic set, The Jazz Crusaders: The Pacific Jazz Quintet Studio Sessions. As they moved through the '60s, they began to cover pop hits. This was a sign of things to come. In the early '70s, they changed their name to the Crusaders, Sample began playing electric piano, they added an electric guitar and bass, and they switched to a jazz-funk fusion style. This brought them their greatest commercial (but not artistic) success. Five of their recordings made the R&B charts between 1972 and 1984; some of them crossed over to the pop charts as well.

Internal disagreements eventually led to the group's demise. Henderson was the first to leave in 1975. He devoted much of the rest of his career to producing both jazz (Roy Ayers, Chico Hamilton) and pop artists (Marvin Gaye, Joni Mitchell). In recent years, he led his own group, called the New Crusaders, and participated in reunions of the original group. Here are Henderson and the New Crusaders in 2012 performing his best known composition, "Keep That Same Old Feeling," which was a hit in 1976.

You may also be interested in reading:

George Duke (1946-2013)

Chico Hamilton (1921-2013)