https://www.bennysutton.com/music/The-Crusaders.aspx for more info

The Crusaders

This is the ultimate good time track from the ultimate good time band, the Crusaders. It was written by the late, great Joe sample and has been covered many times, the Average White Band's vocal version being one of my faves.
The Crusaders have been overlooked yet are such an important influence on so many Jazz players. Indeed they had some Jazz Giants playing for them; Joe Sample (pianist), Stix Hooper (drums), Wilton Felder (saxophone), and Wayne Henderson (trombone) plus a skinny white guy called Larry Carlton on guitar. They were big in the 1970's and had a hit with Street Life featuring Randy Crawford. They have kept popping up in various incarnations since.
The Crusaders are my all time fave band. If I had a choice of joining Steely Dan, Earth wind and Fire or the Crusaders then the Crusaders would win hands down. That's how much I dig them.
The Crusaders are the ultimate good time band. Great tracks that swing, mostly in major keys, infectious rhythms that defy your feet not to tap. From a guitar players point of view these tracks play themselves. They are simple and that's why they are fun. 
I'll be posting more covers from this band real soon.
Ben   :-)

[more]

The Crusaders ---- Put It Where You Want It! (downloadable)

Spiral is one of the Crusader's seminal tracks and a joy for any guitarist to play over. It is from the 1976 album Those Southern Knights.

The Crusaders ---- Spiral (downloadable)

TRICKS FOR GUITAR SOLOING
This is my fave track from my fave band and has my best solo to date. Check it out at 2 mins 40 secs (roughly halfway thru)
Why's it my best solo? I saw this young upstart guitarist in 1970 something play this live. It was awe inspiring. That was Larry Carlton of course and he went on to play with Steely Dan (and just about everyone else). 
My solo is as close as it gets to Larry's vibe. By doing a Q&A with the backing riff frees you from following continuous chords with compatible scales. It's mostly a pentatonic blues scale, B♭ or a G melodic minor slipping into/out of the major scale. 
Being free to just throw down motifs is why I can get such light and shade into it. You know, standing back then digging in. Always effective.  
Next trick that a lot of players are blissfully unaware of is to play the silences between the notes. A deluge of fast notes over the whole of a solo gets, well, boring. If you time it right you can add some tension for the listener aching for you to play the next lick. 
Less is more. This allows those little nuances; vibratos, slides, slurs, harmonics, slaps, snaps etc. I go through just about every one in my repertoire. I may not be the best technician by my style, like Larry's, is pretty expressive. 

The Crusaders

Benny Sutton plays...