I cannot say I am very familiar with Crawford's work as a band-leader but I know through my routine readings of various liner notes that he was Ray Charles' big band leader for quite awhile.
The reason his death caught my attention is because when I was in my first Jazz/Stage band at OW Holmes Middle School - shout out Tiger Band - we played a song called Hank's Blues. Named for Crawford, it was the song that introduced me to that type of band format. And, it was the first song I ever tried to improvise too...
Talk about nostalgia...
Rest in Peace...you left your melody in the wind for us.
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