Hank Crawford

Hank Crawford was always a gritty jazz saxophonist, and his RnB-soaked sound was widely copied by pre-Kenny G smooth jazz horn players. On this 1973 set, Crawford's masculine sax lines bounce and strut over Bob James' cinematic-funk charts, which are played by an all-star fusion band (with props going out to keyboardist Richard Tee). Ironically, Crawford had accidentally missed an earlier (and very similar) CTI recording session, and the gig was handed over to Grover Washington Jr. Washington, and not Crawford, became a crossover star in the process.