The Crusaders - Street Life

Year Released: 1979
Genre: Jazz-Funk / Soul-Jazz

Description:
Released as a single from their 1979 album of the same name, Street Life captures The Crusaders at their commercial peak — fusing jazz sophistication with funk and soul sensibilities. Randy Crawford’s glossy lead vocal rides atop slick horns, tight rhythm grooves, and a cinematic arrangement that evokes urban nightlife and late-night swagger.

Beyond its chart success (reaching #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and #5 in the UK), the song gained additional prestige through its placement in film. A modified version was used in the Burt Reynolds film Sharky’s Machine, and the track regained cultural resonance when featured in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown (1997), connecting The Crusaders’ jazz-funk groove with the director’s homage to blaxploitation and soul cinema.

Street Life remains a bridge between jazz, funk, and film. Its use in Jackie Brown provided a renewed spotlight for the track and helped solidify its place as a timeless slice of late ’70s soul-jazz.