Wilton Felder | Sax and bass player, 75
Bass and saxophone player Wilton Felder, 75, who was an original member of the Crusaders and performed on hundreds of recordings with artists including Joni Mitchell and Michael Jackson, died at his home in Whittier, Calif.
Bass and saxophone player Wilton Felder, 75, who was an original member of the Crusaders and performed on hundreds of recordings with artists including Joni Mitchell and Michael Jackson, died at his home in Whittier, Calif.
The cause of his death last Sunday was complications from cancer, said his son, Wilton Felder Jr.
Mr. Felder was in high demand for recording sessions. He played bass on the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back," Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On," Billy Joel's Piano Man album, and numerous Mitchell tracks.
He also recorded with B.B. King, Randy Newman, Nancy Wilson, Steely Dan, Barry White, Cat Stevens, and many others, on saxophone as well as electric bass.
But for much of his career, he preferred playing live dates with the Crusaders, a band he help found in junior high in Houston.
Though it had only one top-40 hit - "Street Life," with vocalist Randy Crawford in 1979 - the group toured with the Rolling Stones in the mid-1970s, and its jazz-funk sound was highly regarded. - L.A. Times