Stix Hooper

Stix Hooper counts among the founding members of the Jazz Crusaders and continues to command respect as a drummer, even though his solo work has largely unfolded in unremarkable contexts. Early in life he took up drumming in his hometown of Houston. At age sixteen he assembled his first ensemble, then called the Swingsters. Over time the lineup adopted new identities, becoming the Modern Jazz Sextet, then the Night Hawks, and finally the Jazz Crusaders by the late 1950s. Trombonist Wayne Henderson, tenor saxophonist Wilton Felder, and pianist Joe Sample served as co-leaders of the resulting quintet, which rotated through several bassists across the years. Its distinctive trombone-and-tenor front line, paired with a knack for soulful hard bop, sustained both popularity and creative momentum throughout the 1960s. In 1971 the Jazz Crusaders shortened their name to the Crusaders; Henderson soon departed, and the repertoire shifted toward R&B. Hooper remained until 1983, his exit marking the start of the group’s decline because his distinctive drumming had formed a substantial though underappreciated element of its sound. During the 1980s he issued fairly routine solo albums on MCA and Artful Balance while making sporadic appearances on other artists’ sessions, among them dates fronted by Grant Green and George Shearing. Near the end of the first decade of the new millennium the drummer founded Stix Hooper Enterprises and issued three albums on the label: Mainstream Straight-Ahead, Jazz Gems, and Many Hats.