Wilton Felder

Lore & Background

Felder was born on August 31, 1940, in Houston, Texas, and studied music at Texas Southern University. He, Wayne Henderson, Joe Sample, and Stix Hooper founded their group while in high school in Houston. The Jazz Crusaders evolved from a straight-ahead jazz group into a pioneering jazz-rock fusion band with a definite soul music influence. Felder worked with the original group for over thirty years and continued to work in its later versions, which often featured other founding members.

Felder also worked as a West Coast studio musician, mostly playing electric bass, for various soul and R&B musicians. He was one of the in-house bass players for Motown Records when the label opened operations in Los Angeles in the early 1970s. His session work included recordings by the Four Tops, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, and many others.

Felder released several albums as a leader, including 'Secrets' (1985), which reached No. 77 in the UK Albums Chart and featured the minor hit '(No Matter How High I Get) I'll Still be Looking Up to You', sung by Bobby Womack and Alltrinna Grayson.

Reader's Guide

Wilton Felder's significance lies in his dual career as a founding member of the influential jazz-fusion group the Crusaders and as a prolific session bassist for Motown and other labels. His bass lines on Jackson 5 classics such as 'I Want You Back' and 'ABC' helped define the sound of early 1970s pop and soul, while his work with Marvin Gaye on 'Let's Get It On' contributed to one of the era's most iconic R&B albums. As a member of the Crusaders, Felder helped pioneer jazz-rock fusion, blending jazz improvisation with soul and funk. His session work extended across a wide range of artists, from Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell to Billy Joel and Randy Newman, demonstrating his versatility and the high demand for his electric bass playing. Felder's legacy is that of a musician who bridged the worlds of jazz, soul, and pop, leaving a lasting imprint on multiple genres through both his group work and his contributions to countless classic recordings.

Did You Know?

• Felder played bass on the Jackson 5's hits 'I Want You Back', 'The Love You Save', and 'ABC'.
• He played bass on Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On' and 'I Want You'.
• Felder played bass on the Hues Corporation's number-one hit 'Rock the Boat' (1974), not James Jamerson.
• His album 'Secrets' reached No. 77 in the UK Albums Chart in 1985.

Founding the Jazz Crusaders

Wilton Lewis Felder was born in Houston, Texas, on August 31, 1940, and went on to study music at Texas Southern University. But his most consequential musical partnership began even earlier: while still in high school, he joined forces with Wayne Henderson, Joe Sample, and Stix Hooper to form a group that would become the Jazz Crusaders. What started as a straight-ahead jazz ensemble gradually transformed into one of the pioneering jazz-rock fusion outfits of the era, carrying a distinct soul music sensibility throughout its evolution. Felder remained committed to the original lineup for more than three decades, and even as the band's roster shifted over the years, he continued to participate in later incarnations that often still featured other founding members. Together, the group produced a substantial catalog spanning from Freedom Sound in 1961 through Scratch in 1974, recording extensively for Pacific Jazz and later labels. For Felder, the Crusaders were not merely a band but a lifelong creative home that defined his public identity as a musician.

The Motown Years and Studio Session Work

Beyond his work with the Crusaders, Felder built a second career as a highly sought-after West Coast studio musician, primarily on electric bass. When Motown Records expanded its operations to Los Angeles in the early 1970s, he became one of the label's in-house bass players, a role that placed him at the center of some of the era's most iconic recordings. His playing can be heard on the Jackson 5's chart-toppers "I Want You Back," "The Love You Save," and "ABC," as well as on Marvin Gaye's sensual "Let's Get It On" and the follow-up "I Want You." He also laid down the bass track on The Hues Corporation's 1974 number-one smash "Rock the Boat," a fact that corrects the common misattribution to James Jamerson. His session work extended well beyond soul and R&B; he contributed to recordings by soft-rock duo Seals and Crofts and to Four Tops' 1972 album Keeper of the Castle. For Felder, the studio was a second stage where his rhythmic precision and feel served artists across the spectrum of popular music.

A Sideman Without Genre Boundaries

Felder's sideman credits read like a who's-who of American popular music spanning jazz, rock, folk, and soul. He played bass on Steely Dan's Pretzel Logic and Katy Lied, on Joni Mitchell's For the Roses, Court and Spark, and The Hissing of Summer Lawns, and on Billy Joel's Piano Man and Streetlife Serenade. His name appears on Joan Baez's Diamonds & Rust, John Cale's Paris 1919, Randy Newman's Sail Away, and albums by B.B. King, Tina Turner, Ringo Starr, and Dizzy Gillespie. He contributed to Jimmy Smith's Root Down Live!, Shuggie Otis's early records, Dusty Springfield's Cameo, and even Jean-Luc Ponty's Frank Zappa tribute album. Other credits include work with Grant Green, Michael Franks, Harry Nilsson, Jennifer Warnes, Minnie Riperton, Carmen McRae, and Randy Crawford. This extraordinary breadth—moving seamlessly between a jazz great like Gillespie and a pop icon like Joel—testifies to a musician whose technical command and musical empathy made him indispensable across virtually every genre of the 1970s and beyond.

Solo Albums and Final Years

Though best remembered as a band member and session player, Felder also pursued a solo recording career that yielded nine albums from 1969 to 2005. His earliest leader credit, Bullitt, appeared on Pacific Jazz in 1969, and his later work with MCA and PAR labels included Inherit the Wind (1980), a collaboration with Bobby Womack, and Gentle Fire (1983). His 1985 album Secrets, which prominently featured Womack on vocals alongside singer Alltrinna Grayson, reached number 77 on the UK Albums Chart and produced the minor hit "(No Matter How High I Get) I'll Still be Looking Up to You." Subsequent releases such as Love Is a Rush (1987), Nocturnal Moods (1991), and Forever, Always (1992) kept him active through the 1990s, and he released Lets Spend Some Time as late as 2005. Wilton Felder passed away on September 27, 2015, at his home in Whittier, California, from multiple myeloma. He was 75 years old.