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.
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Album Review
- Sample This by AAJ Staff
- The Song Lives On by Dave Hughes
- The Pecan Tree by Mike Perciaccante
Interview
Multiple Reviews
Album Review
- Children of the Sun by Jack Bowers
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...