Two Masters Find Their Groove Again
McGriff and Crawford prove they still had plenty of fire left, swinging hard and trading ideas like old friends.
Soul Survivors arrived quietly in 1986, not as a headline event but as a solid reason to pay attention. Scott Yanow at AllMusic heard it straight: Crawford was playing some of his best work in years, lifted by McGriff's infectious swing and the tight rhythm section around them. That kind of endorsement matters because it came from someone who knew the difference between a veteran coasting and a veteran reconnecting with why he started playing in the first place.
This is Crawford and McGriff meeting as equals, not one sideman backing the other. McGriff had built his own reputation as a organist who could make the instrument talk, and here he's the bandleader. Crawford, a tenor saxophonist with deep roots in soul-jazz and R&B sessions, brings a warm, direct tone that complements rather than competes. The material they chose—covers and standards pitched perfectly for their voices—gives them room to stretch without overthinking it. You hear two musicians who know what they're good at and aren't interested in proving anything except that they still swing.
This isn't Crawford's most celebrated record and it's not a place to start with either musician. But it's the kind of album that rewards listeners who've spent time with 1970s soul-jazz records and want to hear those guys still operating at a high level a decade later. The Milestone label gave them clean sound and room to breathe, and they used it.
Who's playing
George Bensonguitar
Jimmy Ponderguitar
Hank Crawfordalto saxophone
Jimmy McGrifforgan
Mel Lewisdrums
Bernard “Pretty” Purdiedrums
Where next?
More by Hank Crawford
All 27 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
