NEW RELEASES : In Brief : ** The Crusaders, “Healing the Wounds,” GRP.

Despite its place in the Top 5 on the Billboard magazine contemporary jazz chart, this album has little to do with jazz. Commercial dance-funk rhythms--usually in the form of Marcus Miller’s electric bass slaps--dominate nearly every track. Still, saxophonist Wilton Felder and keyboardist Joe Sample manage to generate occasionally interesting solos, and covers of Joe Zawinul’s “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” and the Bob James-David Sanborn hit “Maputo” add much needed melodic energy to an otherwise one-dimensional outing.

Albums are rated on a scale of one asetrisk (poor) to four (excellent). A rating of five asterisks is reserved for classic reissues or retrospectives.