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.
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Multiple Reviews
Album Review
- Children of the Sun by Jack Bowers
Interview
Album Review
- The Pacific Jazz Quintet Studio Sessions by C. Andrew Hovan
- The Pecan Tree by Mike Perciaccante
- The Song Lives On by Dave Hughes
- Sample This by AAJ Staff
- Rainbow Seeker by AAJ Staff
May 04, 2015
Heartfelt Performances And “remembering Joe Sample” At The Berks...
April 16, 2015
"Remembering Joe Sample” At The Berks Jazz Festival
September 17, 2014
Losses: Jackie Cain, Joe Sample
September 15, 2014
March 28, 2013
Jazz This Week: Joe Sample Trio, Eric Marienthal and Bach to the...
March 17, 2013
STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Taste of Joe Sample
January 15, 2013
10 Years Of Tradition: Earl Klugh's Weekend Of Jazz At The Broadmoor!
August 07, 2012
Piano Master Joe Sample Brings Trio To Maryland's Birchmere Music Hall...
July 26, 2012
PRA Records To Release Randy Crawford & Joe Sample – Live Featuring...
November 03, 2008
Jazz Interviews with Joe Sample, Orrin Evans, Jamaaladeen Tacuma and...