Wayne Henderson recently passed, so I pulled out "Scratch" by the Crusaders (Wayne, the trombone player, was the ostensible leader -- I guess -- I mean, on this live album, he introduces the other band members, so that makes him the boss, right?) I'm guessing the band was pretty tight-knit (what do I know?) only because musicians who played with them are introduced as "friends". The band is the band, anyone else is...not.
I probably already blogged about this album (sorry, my research team was busy), but I just wanted to give a shout out to Wayne. This live album is (as albums were then) about 40 minutes long, they come back for an encore after the 30 minute mark -- and then the last song, lasting almost 9 minutes, spends two-thirds of the time introducing the band members. Value for your dollar? Yes, yes, yes. Stomping intro ("Scratch") written by Wayne, a funky version of "Eleanor Rigby" (no, really), "Hard Times", which sounds like the Saturday Night Live outro music, and "So Far Away", a shorter version than the studio version but features the l-o-n-g l--o--n--g held note (circular breathing?) that totally excites the audience (and that's what you want in a live album, right?)
I love the Crusaders, at least the first 4 that I own (I can't vouch for the cross-over years that followed), but those first 4 albums cemented a musical relationship for me, and for that, I thank Wayne Henderson. I love jazz trombone because of you, and that's a big debt. Scratch daddy, indeed
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