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Joe Sample

Joe Sample is a pianist of great energy, versatility, and enterprise. He has constantly sought out novel directions to express his ideas. Since his days with the Jazz Crusaders to his multiple solo efforts and countless sideman sessions, though never seeking the spotlight, is recognized by both his peers and the knowing public as a first class musical artist

Born on February 1, 1939, in Houston, Texas, Joe Sample grew up in a fertile musical Creole neighborhood hearing zydeco and Louis Armstrong. He started playing the piano at age five, and he incorporated a range of local traditions into his music: jazz, gospel, blues, and even Latin and classical forms.

In high school in the 1950s, Sample teamed up with two friends, saxophonist Wilton Felder and drummer Nesbert "Stix" Hooper, to form a group called the Swingsters. While studying piano at Texas Southern University, Sample met and added trombonist Wayne Henderson and several other players to the Swingsters, which became the Modern Jazz Sextet and then the Jazz Crusaders, in emulation of one of the leading progressive jazz bands of the day, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Sample never took a degree from the university; instead in 1960, he and the Jazz Crusaders made the move from Houston to Los Angeles.

The group quickly found opportunities on the West Coast, making its first recording, “Freedom Sounds” in 1961 and releasing up to four albums a year over much of the 1960s. The Jazz Crusaders played at first in the dominant hard bop style of the day, standing out by virtue of their unusual front-line combination of saxophone (played by Wilton Felder) and Henderson's trombone. Another distinctive quality was the funky, rhythmically appealing acoustic piano playing of Sample, who helped steer the group's sound into a fusion between jazz and soul in the late 1960s. The Jazz Crusaders became a strong concert draw during those years.

While Sample and his band mates continued to work together, he and the other band members pursued individual work as well. In 1969 Sample made his first recording under his own name; “Fancy Dance” featured the pianist as part of a jazz trio. In the 1970s, as the Jazz Crusaders became simply the Crusaders and branched out into popular sounds, Sample became known as a reliable L.A. studio musician, turning up on recordings by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner, B.B. King, Joe Cocker, and vocal divas Minnie Riperton and Anita Baker. In 1975 he went into the studios with jazz legends Ray Brown on bass, and drummer Shelly Manne to produce a then ‘State of the Art’ recording done direct to disc. This (to this writer) was a milestone in Joe Sample’s discography titled simply “The Three.” About this time Blue Note reissued some of the early work by the Jazz Crusaders as “The Young Rabbits.” This was a compilation of their recordings done between 1962-68.

The electric keyboard was fairly new at the time, and Sample became one of the instrument's pioneers. He switched to electric keyboard for his recordings with the Crusaders themselves, and the group hit a commercial high-water mark with the hit single "Street Life" and the album of the same name in 1979. In 1978 he did a joint session with guitarist David T. Walker “Swing Street Café” which had all the feel of a live set done in a back street joint in Texas. Joe went back to his roots on that one.

The Crusaders, after losing several key members, broke up after recording the “Life in the Modern World” album for the GRP label in 1987. Despite the disbanding of the Crusaders, the members would join each other to record periodically over the years; releasing “Healing the Wounds” in the early ‘90’s. Felder, Hooper, and Sample recorded their first album, called “Rural Renewal,” as the reunited Crusaders group in 2003 and did a live concert in Japan in 2004.

Joe Sample since 1969’s “Fancy Dance,” has built up an impressive solo resume of albums. His bestselling recordings done from 1978 to 1997 include: “Rainbow Seeker,” “Carmel,” “Voices in the Rain,” “Spellbound,” “Ashes to Ashes,” “Invitation,” “Did You Feel That?” “Old Places, Old Faces” and the George Duke produced “Sample This.” GRP also released “Joe Sample Collection,” and a three disc “Crusaders Collection,” as testament to Sample's enduring legacy. The pianist's most recent recordings are 1999's “The Song Lives On” (featuring duets with singer Lalah Hathaway) and 2002's “The Pecan Tree,” a colorful tribute to his hometown of Houston, where he relocated in 1994. His 2004 album “Soul Shadows,” on Verve paid tribute to jazz musicians Duke Ellington and Jelly Roll Morton, and pre-jazz bandleader James Reese Europe.

In 2007 Sample collaborated with vocalist Randy Crawford on the record "Feeling Good," to much acclaim and airplay. They teamed up again in 2009 for "No Regrets," which was nominated for a Grammy. Source: James Nadal

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Big Band tedesche in gran spolvero

by Angelo Leonardi
March 12, 2015

Da almeno trent'anni in Germania operano alcune delle migliori orchestre mainstream d'Europa, ormai famose per le collaborazioni coi massimi jazzisti contemporanei. Tra i vari collettivi, la NDR Big Band di Amburgo e la WDR Big Band di Colonia si collocano oggi ai vertici internazionali, sapendo coniugare alta professionalità tecnica a doti di flessibilità, fantasia e apertura verso i più diversi ambiti espressivi. In questi due dischi appena pubblicati, la politica di ospitare i protagonisti del jazz si ...

Album Review

Joe Sample & the NDR Big Band Orchestra: Children of the Sun

Read "Children of the Sun" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
December 15, 2014

Toward the end of his remarkable career, the late pianist Joe Sample (he died on September 12, 2014) traveled to Hamburg, Germany, to record Children of the Sun, a suite of his own music, with the splendid NDR Big Band. The eleven compositions were inspired by Sample's appearance at the 1995 St. Croix Jazz Festival, where he weighed the beauty of that island paradise against the brutality of slavery (17th Century St. Croix was a crucial part of what is ...

542

Interview

Joe Sample: Feeling Good

by Katrina-Kasey Wheeler
April 10, 2007

Jazz visionary and founding member of the Jazz Crusaders, pianist Joe Sample has reunited once again with Randy Crawford on Feeling Good (PRA, 2007). The results are magical. They first worked together on the title track to the Crusaders' Street Life, (MCA, 1979), which became an international hit, and “Feeling Good is sure to follow along the same path to success. It is a true testament to the incredible musicianship of all the artists included on this project, which includes ...

323

Album Review

The Jazz Crusaders: The Pacific Jazz Quintet Studio Sessions

Read "The Pacific Jazz Quintet Studio Sessions" reviewed by George Harris

by George Harris
April 5, 2006

If songs like “Scratch" come to mind when you think of the Jazz Crusaders, you are in for a real treat with this six-CD set. Originally including “jazz" in their moniker, Wayne Henderson (trombone), Wilton Felder (tenor), Joe Sample (piano) and Stix Hooper (drums) put together a collection of studio recordings that offers a pleasant surprise for mainstream jazz fans. This rocking set reveals the origins and many directions this multifaceted band took during the musically tumultuous '60s.

Listening to ...

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Album Review

Jazz Crusaders: The Pacific Jazz Quintet Studio Sessions

Read "The Pacific Jazz Quintet Studio Sessions" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan

by C. Andrew Hovan
November 7, 2005

You would think that in this day and age of compact disc reissues and with many years of activity under our belts that just about everything worthy of release has at one time or another made it to the stores. But even though jazz stands in good steed these days in terms of the availability of classic music, there still exists small pockets of music that have somehow eluded us and that is where this set falls. And when a ...

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Album Review

Joe Sample: The Pecan Tree

Read "The Pecan Tree" reviewed by Mike Perciaccante

by Mike Perciaccante
July 24, 2002

Wow! I don't think there is a better description for this new recording from Joe Sample. I truly believe that this is the best jazz CD that I have heard in the past year.

If you're a new listener to jazz, Sample is an accomplished composer, keyboardist and co-founder of the Crusaders. The Pecan Tree is his newest and quite possibly finest recording. For the Pecan Tree, Sample has ventured back to his roots, down to the city ...

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Album Review

Joe Sample featuring Lalah Hathaway: The Song Lives On

by Dave Hughes
March 1, 2000

Joe Sample's latest release, The Song Lives On , is appropriately titled. One of the CD's finest attributes is the excellent song selection. The Peggy Lee classic "Fever" is tastefully covered here, and Sample's own "Street Life" is reprised again, but the remainder of the program is new, at least to my ears. Most of the tunes establish an emotional connection with the listener; they're beautiful, pensive, soulful, and often introspective. Titles such as "Living in Blue," "When ...

Festival

Heartfelt Performances And “remembering Joe Sample” At The Berks Jazz Fest

Source: Sean McKenzie
May 5, 2015

By Sean McKenzie As I watched the amazing lineup of jazz royalty remembering the true legend, Joe Sample, I had never been so moved by such a fitting musical tribute. I remember it was only a little over a year ago that Wayne Henderson had been given his regal sendoff. And now, amongst other Sample fans, I experienced a healing concert for yet another Jazz Crusader. Who was on the lineup? Musical director and pianist Bobby Lyle, who also assembled ...
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Event

"Remembering Joe Sample” At The Berks Jazz Festival

Source: Sean McKenzie
April 17, 2015

One of the featured attractions at this year’s Berks Jazz Festival (its 25th anniversary show) will be a special performance on Saturday, April 18, 2015, at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Reading, PA called “Remembering Joe Sample.” This special tribute to the world renowned pianist and composer who passed away last September was organized by musical director Bobby Lyle and festival promoter John Ernesto; and will feature a stellar lineup of artists—many of whom performed and/or recorded with Sample. It ...
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Obituary

Losses: Jackie Cain, Joe Sample

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
September 17, 2014

Following a long illness, Jackie Cain died Monday afternoon in her New Jersey home. She was 86. She and Roy Kral combined their talents in 1946. They incorporated the spirit of bebop in their work with Charlie Ventura’s sextet, capturing the public imagination with “East of Suez” and “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles.” Recorded with Ventura at a concert in Pasadena, California, in 1949, the records received widespread radio airplay in the days when that was still a route to jazz ...
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Interview

Last Interview: Joe Sample

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 15, 2014

Back in March, when I was interviewing artists for my Wall Street Journal “Anatomy of a Song" column on Rock the Boat, I called Joe Sample, who played keyboard and led the rhythm section on what is widely considered the fist pure disco single. Joe had just finished undergoing chemotherapy when I called, which had miraculously pushed his lung cancer into remission. Sadly, the treatment's positive effects didn't last. Joe died September 12. He was 75. Like many superb musicians ...
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Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Joe Sample Trio, Eric Marienthal and Bach to the Future, Niu Rosebud Foundation Jazztet, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
March 28, 2013

With last weekend's record snowfall melted, and more seasonable weather forecast for this weekend, it should be a good time in St. Louis to get out and hear some live jazz and creative music. Let's see what's coming up over the next few days... Tonight, Joe Sample and his trio begin a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Though perhaps still best known as the pianist for the Crusaders (nee Jazz Crusaders), Sample also has had ...
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Video / DVD

STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Taste of Joe Sample

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
March 17, 2013

This week, we check in on pianist Joe Sample, who's coming to St. Louis to perform with his trio starting Wednesday, March 27 through Saturday, March 30 at Jazz at the Bistro. Now 74, the Houston native first gained fame in the early 1960s, blending jazz with soul, R&B and pop influences as a founding member of the Jazz Crusaders. Sample began developing his solo career beginning in the late 1970s, enjoying considerable commercial success with albums such as Rainbow ...
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Event

10 Years Of Tradition: Earl Klugh's Weekend Of Jazz At The Broadmoor!

Source: Audrey Birnbaum
January 16, 2013

Grammy Award-Winning Artist Earl Klugh Returns This April! Colorado Springs, Colo. (January 14, 2013) – For a 10th straight season, GRAMMY-winning guitarist Earl Klugh hosts his Weekend of Jazz at The Broadmoor featuring exceptional musicians and performances, along with unique culinary and wine experiences. This April 4-6, join Earl Klugh and The Broadmoor to celebrate 10 years of unforgettable Weekend of Jazz memories with talent from Klugh’s first-ever Weekend of Jazz: Multi-platinum selling trumpeter Chris Botti returns, as well as ...
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Performance / Tour

Piano Master Joe Sample Brings Trio To Maryland's Birchmere Music Hall Saturday September 29

Source: Inque Public Relations
August 8, 2012

Music master Joe Sample is bringing his jazz trio to Silver Springs, Maryland for a special concert at the Birchmere Music Hall, Saturday, September 29, 2012. Sample has just released a fine new Live CD (with singer Randy Crawford), but for this engagement, the spotlight will solely be on his piano mastery and that of his trio which includes world renowned drummer Steve Gadd and his accomplished son Nicklas Sample on upright bass. Joe Sample is world renowned as a ...
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Recording

PRA Records To Release Randy Crawford & Joe Sample – Live Featuring Steve Gadd On Drums And Nicklas Sample On Bass In Stores July 31st

Source: Inque Public Relations
July 27, 2012

Electrifying Performances Recorded On Tour at Various Concert Venues Throughout Europe From October – December 2008 Randy Crawford and Joe Sample have been making music together in one form or another for nearly 36 years. From their first hit together in 1979, “Street Life” (which Randy sang with Joe and The Crusaders) to “One Day I’ll Fly Away,” “When Your Life Was Low” and “Last Night at Danceland,” to their recent duo collaborations on the GRAMMY®-nominated CDs Feeling Good (2006) ...
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