There’s something especially satisfying about hearing a band with deep musical roots return to the holiday season with a project that feels less like a collection of seasonal standards and more like a reunion of old friends in a room full of great grooves. R.A.D.S. Krusaders—whose history reaches back to Texas Southern University and the mentorship of the late Joe Sample—have long carried forward the Crusaders’ essential marriage of jazz improvisation, R&B soul, funk and sophisticated ensemble interplay. Their new four song holiday EP, Gifts from the Wise Men, brings that legacy into a warmly imaginative Christmas setting, with Mark Scurlock Jr. on tenor saxophone, Jarvis Hooper on trombone, Nic Allen on bass and John Fontenot on drums, joined by several special guests. Rather than simply dressing familiar melodies in holiday ornaments, the group reshapes them with swinging rhythms, colorful horn rapport, atmospheric textures and the kind of musicianship that makes each arrangement its own little seasonal world.