The Jazz Crusaders’ work for the Pacific Jazz label from 1961 to 1969 was so consistent that there’s material in the vaults to keep fans of soul-jazz happy well into the future. Lighthouse ’68 was something like the fourth live recording the group did for the label at the Hermosa Beach club. Here the band is very much at the top of their form, playing a still basically jazz style that is tinged with soul, gospel, blues, and R&B.

The opener, “Oogo-Boo-Ga-Loo” is a slinky blues boogaloo that the group really takes off on. With Buster Williams recently rotated into the group’s changing bass chair, the rhythm section is an awesome force, with Stix Hooper’s tasty groove-based drum work and Sample’s often simple yet so elegant piano playing. And it’s the little things that these guys do naturally that set them so far apart from other groups of the day. For example, listen as Wayne Henderson picks up the tambourine during Wilton Felder’s tenor solo, and listen to the varied rhythms he establishes. The tambourine isn’t just ‘busy work’ for Henderson, it’s a chance to push the song’s groove a little harder. The group’s take on “Eleanor Rigby” is both deep South soul and Latin sophistication wrapped in a single, spotlessly-executed performance.

“Never Had It So Good” is a Joe Sample composition with a groove so organic that it is hard to believe there was a time when it didn’t exist. In this respect it has something in common with Joe Zawinul’s work with Cannonball Adderley, and Felder’s solo here sounds a bit like Adderley as well. Buster Williams’ compositional abilities meant that everyone within the group could write and arrange. Williams’ contributions here are the most progressive jazz pieces and they truly add another dimension to the group’s stylistic bag of tricks. “Native Dancer” is a cooker that allows the band to break out its straight ahead jazz chops. You can hear that these guys were a great jazz combo, but coming from the Houston area they were profoundly influenced by a variety of music, including R&B, soul, gospel, Latin, and even Cajun. These influences simply couldn’t be suppressed, and why should they be? The beauty of this era of Crusaders music is that they were very un-self-consciousness about mixing styles; it was a fairly natural thing, not something rigorously planned beforehand. The original recording concludes with an amazing run through John Coltrane’s modal “Impressions” at a breakneck tempo. It again serves to remind the listener of how great a group of musicians these guys were (and are) and how well they played together.

The reissue features four bonus tracks. Wayne Henderson’s “Cathy the Cooker” is a slightly tropical vibe on which Henderson solos liberally and effectively. “Shadows,” a gorgeous ballad, is another Buster Williams composition that demonstrates the sheer beauty with which these guys could play. “Tough Talk” is a nice groove that digs in its heels and doesn’t let go, heard here in a much-extended version over its studio recording. Closing out the reissue is Felder’s “Third Principle,” a straight-ahead swinger with some masterful solo work from Sample.