Free as the Wind

Free as the Wind is a studio album by The Crusaders issued in 1977 on ABC Records.^[1] The album reached No. 8 on the Billboard Top Soul Albums chart.^[2]

Free as the Wind
Studio album by The Crusaders
Released	1977
Studio	Hollywood Sound Recorders (Hollywood, California)
Genre	Jazz jazz fusion
Length	42:49
Label	ABC Records
Producer	Stewart Levine The Crusaders
The Crusaders chronology
Those Southern Knights (1976) Free as the Wind (1977) Images (1978)

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]

Richard S. Ginell of AllMusic, where it received four stars out of five, wrote "When the material is this good, everything falls into place from there; the grooves are deeper, the soloing by all five Crusaders is more melodic and probing, and while Sample provides a few brass and string arrangements, this is just harmless decoration, neither a necessity nor a hindrance. This would be the Crusaders' high-water mark in the post-Wayne Henderson years, and it can stand tall with anything they've done."^[3]

Track listing

Adapted from album's text.^[1]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Free as the Wind"	Joe Sample	6:17
2.	"I Felt the Love"	Stix Hooper	5:10
3.	"The Way We Was"	Robert Popwell	5:24
4.	"Nite Crawler"	Larry Carlton	4:45
5.	"Feel It"	Stix Hooper, Lamont Dozier, Larry Carlton, Robert Popwell, Wilton Felder	4:15
6.	"Sweet N' Sour"	Joe Sample	8:57
7.	"River Rat"	Wilton Felder	2:29
8.	"It Happens Everyday"	Joe Sample	5:40

Personnel

Adapted from album's text.^[1]

The Crusaders

• Joe Sample – keyboards, horn and string orchestrations
• Larry Carlton – guitars
• Robert "Pops" Popwell – bass
• Stix Hooper – drums, percussion
• Wilton Felder – saxophones

Guest musicians

• Dean Parks – guitars
• Roland Bautista – guitars (5, 7)
• Arthur Adams – guitars (8)
• Ralph MacDonald – special percussion
• Paulinho da Costa – percussion (5)

Production

• Stewart Levine – producer
• The Crusaders – associate producers
• Rik Pekkonen – engineer, mixing
• Bernie Grundman – mastering at A&M Studios (Hollywood, California)
• Frank Mulvey – art direction
• Tim Ritchie – album design
• Ed Simpson – photography

Charts

Chart	Peak position
US Billboard Top LPs & Tape[4]	41
US Top Soul LPs (Billboard)[2]	9