WILTON FELDER
Let's Spend Some Time
BCS
Records
Wilton Felder is well known to jazz fans as
the saxophonist and composer who spent some thirty years
playing, along with Joe Sample, Stix Hooper, and Wayne Henderson
in the phenomenally successful Crusaders. The group’s
combination of jazz, soul, r&b, and gospel influences
created a sound that was rooted in jazz, but which was accessible
to listeners raised on pop and rock music.
Unlike many fusion bands, The Crusaders never
lost their blues and soul roots, which was one key to their
success. Another was the fact that each musician had a definite
style on their instrument, and it was a pleasure to listen
to each of them play. Felder’s deep, sonorous tenor
sound is rooted in the Texas tenor sax tradition, and it
is very easy to listen to, largely because it retains an
element of soul grit and refuses to be too pretty, even
when the surroundings are very smooth. On his latest CD,
Let’s Spend Some Time Together Felder creates
a very enjoyable and guilt-free smooth listening experience
precisely because his sax playing is just what it’s
always been.
Felder is sometimes compared to Grover Washington,
Jr., and there is a certain element of truth to this, because
both were excellent musicians who managed to create music
that had substance but which appealed to a mass audience
as well. Let’s Spend Some Time is occasionally
marred by somewhat ham-handed groove control loops and MIDI
sequencing, but Felder’s sax is almost always front
and center, and he wisely brings in George Shaw on trumpet
and flugelhorn to contribute another instrumental voice
to relieve Felder periodically. Shaw is heard to good effect
on “High Water” and, of course, on the track
“I Remember Chet Baker.” “I Remember”
at times recalls Weather Report with its passing around
or melodic components.
There are a few vocal tracks, which, in all
honesty, should probably have been left out—it’s
one thing to overlook a somewhat bland production when Felder
and Shaw are playing, but when you listen to the generic
radio fare of “As Long As I’m With You”
and the pseudo rap of “Information” you long
for the next instrumental track. Skip these and the track
“No One” and you’ll be free and clear
of the vocal work, allowing you to focus on the true reason
for this disc—Wilton Felder’s sax playing.
