1968 · Album
Double Cross
Recorded 1965 and 1967 · Atlantic · Produced by Not specified in Wikipedia source
The Rhythm Section That Holds It Together
Crawford's horn remains the draw, but the band around him is what makes Double Cross worth hearing twice.
What makes Double Cross stick is not Hank Crawford's alto saxophone alone, though it's the reason you drop the needle. It's the rhythm section that defines these sessions — tight, understated, refusing to overstate anything. Recorded across 1965 and 1967, the album sits in a pocket where Crawford's soulful, bluesy phrasing gets room to breathe without a lot of decoration. The horns are confident; the arrangements know what they're doing. But listen past Crawford and you hear a band that trusts dynamics over display.
Crawford was already a veteran by this point, years past his most celebrated work, and Double Cross shows him in a mode that's almost relaxed. Not loose, but unforced. The rhythm players don't chase him; they're not trying to be heard. That restraint is harder to pull off than flash. You notice it most in the spaces between phrases, where a lesser section might rush or overcompensate. Here, everyone lets the silence do its job. The Atlantic label had shifted by the mid-1960s, and this record reflects that move toward funkier, more grounded soul-jazz — Crawford meeting that moment halfway, neither abandoning his foundation nor pretending to be something younger.
This is not peak Crawford, and it was never going to be. But as a document of a working band that understood economy and pocket, Double Cross has aged better than many albums from the period that tried harder to matter. If you know Hank Crawford's earlier Atlantic work like Soul Tango (1962), this is the logical next chapter — familiar enough that you'll recognize him instantly, but settled into a different groove.
Who's playing
James Tyrellbass
Carl Lynchguitar
Pepper Adamsbaritone saxophone
Hank Crawfordalto saxophone
David “Fathead” Newmantenor saxophone
Melvin Lastietrumpet
Joe Newmantrumpet
Tony Studdtrombone
Bruno Carrdrums
