Joe Sample
Encyclopedia
Joseph Leslie "Joe" Sample (born February 1, 1939) is an American
pianist
, keyboard player and composer
.
He is one of the founding members of the Jazz Crusaders
, the band which became simply The Crusaders
in 1971, and remained a part of the group until its final album in 1991 (not including the 2003 reunion album Rural Renewal).
, George Benson
, Jimmy Witherspoon
, B. B. King
, Eric Clapton
, Steely Dan
, and The Supremes
.
Sample incorporates jazz, gospel, blues, Latin, and classical forms into his music.
In high school in the 1950s, Sample teamed up with two friends, saxophonist Wilton Felder
and drummer "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 L.A. studio musician, appearing on recordings by the likes of Joni Mitchell
, Marvin Gaye
, Tina Turner
, B. B. King
, Joe Cocker
, 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 direct to disc entitled 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.
The Crusaders, after losing several key members, broke up after recording Life in the Modern World 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 '90s. 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.
Since Sample's Fancy Dance (1969), he has recorded several solo albums, including 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 The Song Lives On (1999), featuring duets with singer Lalah Hathaway, and The Pecan Tree (2002), a tribute to his hometown of Houston, where he relocated in 1994. His 2004 album on Verve, Soul Shadows, paid tribute to Duke Ellington
and Jelly Roll Morton
, and pre-jazz bandleader James Reese Europe
. In 2007 he recorded Feeling Good with vocalist Randy Crawford
.
Some of his works are featured on The Weather Channel's "Local On The 8s" segments and his song "Rainbow Seeker" is included in their 2008 compilation release, The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II
. Nicole Kidman
sang his song "One Day I'll Fly Away
" in the Baz Luhrmann
film Moulin Rouge!
.
Sample has a bassist son named Nicklas (from an ex-wife) who is a member of the Coryell Auger Sample Trio featuring Larry Coryell
and Brian Auger
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, keyboard player and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
He is one of the founding members of the Jazz Crusaders
The Crusaders
The Crusaders are an American music group popular in the early 1970s known for their amalgamated jazz, pop and soul sound. Since 1961, more than forty albums have been credited to the group , 19 of which were recorded under the name "The Jazz Crusaders" .-History:In 1960, following the demise of a...
, the band which became simply The Crusaders
The Crusaders
The Crusaders are an American music group popular in the early 1970s known for their amalgamated jazz, pop and soul sound. Since 1961, more than forty albums have been credited to the group , 19 of which were recorded under the name "The Jazz Crusaders" .-History:In 1960, following the demise of a...
in 1971, and remained a part of the group until its final album in 1991 (not including the 2003 reunion album Rural Renewal).
Biography
Sample began playing the piano when he was five years old. He was a student of the late great organ and piano extraordinaire Curtis Mayo. Since the early 1980s, he has enjoyed a successful solo career and has guested on many recordings by other performers and groups, including Miles DavisMiles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
, Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.-Early life and career:James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during...
, B. B. King
B. B. King
Riley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. According to Edward M...
, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
, and The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
.
Sample incorporates jazz, gospel, blues, Latin, and classical forms into his music.
In high school in the 1950s, Sample teamed up with two friends, saxophonist Wilton Felder
Wilton Felder
Wilton Lewis Felder is both a saxophone and bass player, and is best known as a founding member of The Crusaders, initially called the Jazz Crusaders. Felder, Wayne Henderson, Joe Sample, and Stix Hooper founded the group while in high school in Houston...
and drummer "Stix" Hooper
Stix Hooper
Nesbert "Stix" Hooper is an American soul jazz/hard bop jazz drummer born in Houston, Texas, probably best known for founding his group The Swingsters, which later became known as The Jazz Crusaders.-References:...
, to form a group called the Swingsters. While studying piano at Texas Southern University
Texas Southern University
Texas Southern University is a historically black university located in Houston, Texas, United States....
, Sample met and added trombonist Wayne Henderson
Wayne Henderson (musician)
Wayne Henderson is a soul-jazz and hard bop trombonist and record producer. In 1961, he co-founded the soul jazz/hard bop group The Jazz Crusaders...
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
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
'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
Hard bop
Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...
style of the day, standing out by virtue of their unusual front-line combination of saxophone (played by Wilton Felder
Wilton Felder
Wilton Lewis Felder is both a saxophone and bass player, and is best known as a founding member of The Crusaders, initially called the Jazz Crusaders. Felder, Wayne Henderson, Joe Sample, and Stix Hooper founded the group while in high school in Houston...
) 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 L.A. studio musician, appearing on recordings by the likes of Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
, Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
, B. B. King
B. B. King
Riley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. According to Edward M...
, Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
, Minnie Riperton
Minnie Riperton
Minnie Julia Riperton was an American singer-songwriter best known for her 1975 single "Lovin' You". She was married to songwriter and music producer Richard Rudolph from 1972 until her death in the summer of 1979. They had two children - music engineer Marc Rudolph and actress/comedienne Maya...
and Anita Baker
Anita Baker
Anita Baker is an American R&B/soul jazz singer-songwriter. To date, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards, and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit....
. In 1975 he went into the studios with jazz legends Ray Brown
Ray Brown (musician)
Raymond Matthews Brown was an American jazz double bassist.-Biography:Ray Brown was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and had piano lessons from the age of eight. After noticing how many pianists attended his high school, he thought of taking up the trombone, but was unable to afford one...
on bass, and drummer Shelly Manne
Shelly Manne
Shelly Manne , born Sheldon Manne in New York City, was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, swing, bebop, avant-garde jazz and fusion, as well as contributing...
to produce a then state-of-the-art recording direct to disc entitled The Three. About this time Blue Note
Blue note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
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
David T. Walker
David T. Walker is an American guitarist born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to numerous session musician duties since the early 1970s, Walker has issued over twelve albums in his own name.-Career:...
, Swing Street Café, which had all the feel of a live set done in a back street joint in Texas.
The Crusaders, after losing several key members, broke up after recording Life in the Modern World for the GRP label
GRP Records
GRP Records is an American jazz record company, owned by Universal Music Group and operates through its Verve Music Group. The company's name has had different meanings. In its early days, it stood for "Grusin/Rosen Productions," after the founders...
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 '90s. 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.
Since Sample's Fancy Dance (1969), he has recorded several solo albums, including the George Duke
George Duke
George Duke is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music...
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 The Song Lives On (1999), featuring duets with singer Lalah Hathaway, and The Pecan Tree (2002), a tribute to his hometown of Houston, where he relocated in 1994. His 2004 album on Verve, Soul Shadows, paid tribute to Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
and Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....
, and pre-jazz bandleader James Reese Europe
James Reese Europe
James Reese Europe was an American ragtime and early jazz bandleader, arranger, and composer. He was the leading figure on the African American music scene of New York City in the 1910s.-Biography:...
. In 2007 he recorded Feeling Good with vocalist Randy Crawford
Randy Crawford
Randy Crawford is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist...
.
Some of his works are featured on The Weather Channel's "Local On The 8s" segments and his song "Rainbow Seeker" is included in their 2008 compilation release, The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II
The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II
The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II is a 2008 compilation release by Midas Records. It is the second CD from The Weather Channel which features their most requested music from the "Local on the 8s" segments...
. Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
sang his song "One Day I'll Fly Away
One Day I'll Fly Away
"One Day I'll Fly Away" is a song with music by Joe Sample and words by Will Jennings, performed by Randy Crawford and released in 1980.Joe Sample created the chorus based on Impromptus, D...
" in the Baz Luhrmann
Baz Luhrmann
Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...
film Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 romantic jukebox musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. Following the Red Curtain Cinema principles, the film is based on the Orphean myth, La Traviata, and La Bohème...
.
Sample has a bassist son named Nicklas (from an ex-wife) who is a member of the Coryell Auger Sample Trio featuring Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell is an American jazz fusion guitarist.-Biography:Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas. He graduated from Richland High School, in Richland, Washington, where he played in local bands The Jailers, The Rumblers, The Royals, and The Flames. He also played with The Checkers from nearby...
and Brian Auger
Brian Auger
Brian Auger is a jazz and rock keyboardist, who has specialized in playing the Hammond organ.A jazz pianist, bandleader, session musician and Hammond B3 player, Auger has played or toured with artists such as Rod Stewart, Tony Williams, Jimi Hendrix, Sonny Boy Williamson, Led Zeppelin, Eric Burdon...
.
Full albums
| Title | |Year of Release | Label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fancy Dance | 1969 | Gazell | ||
| Rainbow Seeker | 1978 | ABC, Blue Thumb | ||
| Carmel | 1979 | ABC, Blue Thumb | ||
| Voices In The Rain | 1980 | MCA Jazz | ||
| The Hunter | 1982 | MCA Jazz | ||
| Roles | 1983 | MCA Jazz | ||
| Oasis | 1985 | MCA Jazz | ||
| Spellbound | 1989 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Ashes To Ashes | 1990 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Invitation | 1993 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Did You Feel That? | 1994 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Old Places Old Faces | 1996 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Sample This | 1997 | Warner Bros. | ||
| The Song Lives On The Song Lives On -Personnel:* Jay Anderson - Bass* Lenny Castro - Percussion* David Delhomme - Synthesizer* Koji Egawa - Assistant Engineer* Lalah Hathaway - Vocals, Performer, Vocal Arrangement* Patrick Rains - Management* Walfredo Reyes - Drums, Drums... (with Lalah Hathaway Lalah Hathaway Eulaulah Donyll Hathaway best known as Lalah Hathaway referred to as the First Daughter of Soul, is a contemporary R&B and jazz singer. She is the daughter of soul singer Donny Hathaway and a classically trained vocalist. In 1990, Lalah Hathaway released a self-titled album. The album's first... ) |
1999 | GRP | ||
| The Pecan Tree | 2002 | Verve | ||
| Soul Shadows | 2004 | Verve | ||
| Creole Love Call (with Nils Landgren) | 2006 | ACT music | ||
| Feeling Good (with Randy Crawford Randy Crawford Randy Crawford is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist... ) |
2007 | PRA | ||
| No Regrets (with Randy Crawford Randy Crawford Randy Crawford is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist... ) |
2008 | PRA |
Compilations
| Title | |Year of Release | Label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collection | 1991 | GRP | ||
| The Best Of Joe Sample | 1998 | Warner Bros. | ||
As sideman
With Blue MitchellBlue Mitchell
Richard Allen Mitchell was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock, and funk trumpeter, known for many albums recorded as leader and sideman for Riverside, Blue Note and then Mainstream Records.-Biography:...
- Blues' BluesBlues' BluesBlues' Blues is an album by American trumpeter Blue Mitchell recorded in 1972 and released on the Mainstream label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 2½ stars stating "the music overall is listenable and funky, but not particularly memorable...
(Mainstream, 1972) - Graffiti BluesGraffiti BluesGraffiti Blues is an album by American trumpeter Blue Mitchell recorded in 1973 and released on the Mainstream label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 3 stars stating "Although not up to the same level as Blue Mitchell's earlier Blue Note dates, this accessible set...
(Mainstream, 1973)