Street Life by The Crusaders

Street Life, the 1979 album from the Crusaders, the jazz outfit that had dropped the "Jazz" from its name back in 1971, came out on MCA with the band producing itself through Joe Sample, Wilton Felder and Stix Hooper. It caught them at their commercial peak, landing in the top 20 on three separate Billboard charts.

The reason is the title track, a slinky groove with Randy Crawford singing up front, which crossed onto pop radio, went top five in the UK and became the band's biggest soul hit. Around it, electric keyboards shimmer, saxophone glides and Hooper keeps the backbeat snapping, jazz-funk polished to a disco-era sheen. "Rodeo Drive (High Steppin')" struts to match the sleeve, which was shot at 409 N Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.