Joe Sample

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Sample was born in Houston, Texas, the youngest son of Alexander Sample, a mail-carrier, and Agatha (née Osborne) Sample, a seamstress. Sample began to play the piano at the age of five. He was a student of the organist and pianist (Theodore or T.) Curtis Mayo.

In high school in the 1950s, Sample teamed up with 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,{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=joe-sample-mn0000804559 |tab=biography |pure_url=yes}} |title=Joe Sample Biography |first=Alex |last=Henderson |website=AllMusic |access-date=April 18, 2017}} 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. He was a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

The group quickly found opportunities on the West Coast, making its first recording, Freedom Sound, 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{{cite book | last=Berendt |first=Joachim E | author-link=Joachim-Ernst Berendt |title=The Jazz Book | publisher=Paladin | year=1976 |page=387}} in the late 1960s. The Jazz Crusaders became a strong concert draw during those years.

While Sample and his bandmates 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 Los Angeles studio musician, appearing on recordings by Joni Mitchell, Marvin Gaye, Miles Davis, B. B. King, Randy Crawford, George Benson, Joe Cocker, Herb Alpert, Michael Franks, Anita Baker(1994) and Steely Dan.[http://www.steelydan.nl/personinfo.jsp?id=17 Joe Sample] Steely Dan Database Retrieved 9 April 2024 Sample was a founding member of the L.A. Express, which was started as the backing band for Tom Scott; however, both Sample and fellow Crusader Larry Carlton left after that group's first album. In 1975, Sample went into the studio with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Shelly Manne to produce a then state-of-the-art recording direct to disc titled The Three. About this time, Blue Note Records reissued some of the early work by the Jazz Crusaders as The Young Rabbits. This was a compilation of their recordings produced between 1962 and 1968.

The electric keyboard was fairly new in the 1960s, and Sample became one of the instrument's pioneers. He began to use the electric piano while the group retained their original name, and the group hit a commercial high-water mark with the hit single "Street Life" and the album of the same name in 1979. He released Swing Street Café with R&B guitarist David T. Walker in 1981.

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 1990s. Felder, Hooper, and Sample recorded their first album, called Rural Renewal, as the reunited Crusaders group in 2003 and played a concert in Japan in 2004.

After Sample's Fancy Dance (1969), he recorded several solo albums, including Sample This, produced by George Duke.

GRP also released Joe Sample Collection, and a three-disc Crusaders Collection, as testament to Sample's enduring legacy. Some of the pianist's 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. In the mid-1970s, the Crusaders added guitarist Larry Carlton.

Sample appeared on stage at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 28 May 2000, playing keyboard solo on George Benson's "Deeper Than You Think". This concert was recorded and a DVD entitled George Benson: Absolutely Live was subsequently released. A studio version of "Deeper Than You Think" was recorded featuring Joe Sample in New York in May 1999 during sessions for a Benson collection that took the title Absolute Benson.

Some of Sample's works were 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! (2001). The popular "In All My Wildest Dreams", also from the 1978 album Rainbow Seeker, was sampled on Tupac's "Dear Mama", De La Soul's "WRMS's Dedication to the Bitty", Toni Braxton's "What's Good" and Arrested Development's "Africa's Inside Me".{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

Sample died of mesothelioma in Houston, Texas, at the age of 75. At the time of his death, Sample had been working on a project, "Quadroon," with singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke.{{cite news |url=http://www.thebluegrasssituation.com/read/squared-roots-jonatha-brooke-rhythm-and-groove-joe-sample |title=Squared Roots: Jonatha Brooke on the rhythm and groove of Joe Sample |newspaper=The Bluegrass Situation |date=November 9, 2016}}

Joe Sample was Catholic, and supported Catholic charities and churches throughout his life.{{Cite web|title=A Talent That Bridged Genres: Jazz Pianist Joe Sample Dies|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/09/13/348213148/a-talent-that-bridged-genres-jazz-pianist-joe-sample-dies|access-date=2021-06-14|website=NPR| date=September 13, 2014 |language=en| last1=Chappell | first1=Bill }}

His son, bassist Nicklas Sample, was a member of the Coryell Auger Sample Trio featuring Julian Coryell and Karma Auger.{{cite news|last=Keepnews|first=Peter|date=September 14, 2014|title=Joe Sample, Crusaders Pianist Who Went Electric, Dies at 75|page=D10|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/15/arts/music/joe-sample-crusaders-pianist-dies-at-75.html?_r=0}}{{cite news|date=September 13, 2014|title=Jazz-funk pioneer Joe Sample dies at 75|newspaper=The Washington Post|agency=Associated Press|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/jazz-funk-pioneer-joe-sample-dies-at-75/2014/09/13/fbe9bcac-3ba8-11e4-9c9f-ebb47272e40e_story.html}}{{cite news|last=Chawkins|first=Steve|date=September 14, 2014|title=Joe Sample dies at 75; jazz-funk keyboardist founded the Crusaders|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-joe-sample-20140915-story.html}}{{cite magazine|last=Khatchatourian|first=Maane|date=September 13, 2014|title=Joe Sample, Iconic Jazz Pianist, Dies at 75|url=https://variety.com/2014/music/news/joe-sample-dead-1201305148/|magazine=Variety|issn=0042-2738}}

File:Joe Sample 1978.jpg, 1978]]

• Freedom Sound (Pacific Jazz, 1961)
• Lookin' Ahead (Pacific Jazz, 1962)
• The Jazz Crusaders at the Lighthouse (Pacific Jazz, 1962)
• Tough Talk (Pacific Jazz, 1963)
• Heat Wave (Pacific Jazz, 1963)
• Jazz Waltz (Pacific Jazz, 1963) with Les McCann
• Stretchin' Out (Pacific Jazz, 1964)
• The Thing (Pacific Jazz, 1965)
• Chile Con Soul (Pacific Jazz, 1965)
• Live at the Lighthouse '66 (Pacific Jazz, 1966)
• Talk That Talk (Pacific Jazz, 1966)
• The Festival Album (Pacific Jazz, 1966)
• Uh Huh (Pacific Jazz, 1967)
• Lighthouse '68 (Pacific Jazz, 1968)
• Powerhouse (Pacific Jazz, 1969)
• Lighthouse '69 (Pacific Jazz, 1969)
• Give Peace a Chance (Liberty, 1970)
• Old Socks New Shoes – New Socks Old Shoes (Chisa, 1970)
• Pass the Plate (Chisa, 1971)
• Hollywood (MoWest, 1972)
• Crusaders 1 (Blue Thumb, 1972)
• The 2nd Crusade (Blue Thumb, 1973)
• Unsung Heroes (Blue Thumb, 1973)
• Scratch (Blue Thumb, 1974)
• Southern Comfort (Blue Thumb, 1974)
• Chain Reaction (ABC/Blue Thumb, 1975)
• Those Southern Knights (ABC/Blue Thumb, 1976)
• Free as the Wind (ABC/Blue Thumb, 1977)
• Images (ABC/Blue Thumb, 1978)
• Street Life (MCA, 1979)
• Rhapsody and Blues (MCA, 1980)
• Standing Tall (MCA, 1981)
• Ongaku Kai - Live in Japan (Crusaders, 1981; GRP, 1993)
• Royal Jam (MCA, 1982) with B.B. King
• Ghetto Blaster (MCA, 1984)
• The Good and the Bad Times (MCA, 1986)
• Life in the Modern World (MCA, 1988)
• Healing the Wounds (GRP, 1991)
• Rural Renewal (Verve, 2003)

With CreoleJoe Band

• CreoleJoe Band (PRA, 2013)

• Put It Where Yo Want It (1972)
• Time Bomb (1974)
• Street Life (1979)
• Soul Shadows (1980)

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With Anita Baker

• Rhythm of Love (Elektra, 1994)
• Christmas Fantasy (Blue Note, 2005)

With George Benson

• 20/20 (Warner Bros., 1985)
• Absolute Benson (Verve, 2000)
• Guitar Man (Concord, 2011)

With Joan Baez

• Diamonds & Rust (A&M, 1975)
• Blowin' Away (Portrait, 1977)

With Cher

• Bittersweet White Light (MCA, 1973)
• Stars (Warner Bros., 1975)

With Eric Clapton

• Pilgrim (Reprise, 1998)
• Reptile (Reprise, 2001)

With Natalie Cole

• Unforgettable... with Love (Elektra, 1991)
• Ask a Woman Who Knows (Verve, 2002)

With Randy Crawford

• Everything Must Change (Warner Bros., 1976)
• Now We May Begin (Warner Bros., 1980)
• Through the Eyes of Love (Warner Bros., 1992)
• Feeling Good (PRA, 2007)
• No Regrets (PRA, 2009)
• Live (PRA, 2012)

With Michael Franks

• The Art of Tea (Reprise, 1975)
• Sleeping Gypsy (Warner Bros., 1977)

With Albert King

• Albert (Utopia, 1976)
• Truckload of Lovin' (Utopia, 1976)

With B.B. King

• Midnight Believer (ABC, 1978)
• Take It Home (MCA, 1979)
• There Is Always One More Time (MCA, 1991)
• Reflections (MCA, 2003)

With Blue Mitchell

• Blues' Blues (Mainstream, 1972)
• Graffiti Blues (Mainstream, 1973)

With Joni Mitchell

• Court and Spark (Elektra, 1974)
• The Hissing of Summer Lawns (Elektra, 1975)

With Steely Dan

• Aja (ABC 1977)
• Gaucho (MCA, 1980) – rec. 1978–80

With Rod Stewart

• Stardust: The Great American Songbook, Volume III (J, 2004)
• Fly Me to the Moon... The Great American Songbook Volume V (J, 2010)

With Herb Alpert

Rise (A&M, 1979){{col-2}}

With others

• Gene Ammons, Free Again (Prestige, 1971){{cite web|title=Prestige Records Catalog Series 10000|url=http://www.jazzdisco.org/prestige-records/catalog-10000-series/|website=Jazzdisco.org|access-date=23 August 2014}}
• Paul Anka, The Painter (United Artists, 1976)
• Herb Alpert, Rise (A&M, 1979)
• David Axelrod, Seriously Deep (Polydor, 1975)
• Bobby Bryant, The Jazz Excursion into "Hair" (Pacific Jazz, 1969)
• Solomon Burke, Electronic Magnetism (MGM, 1971)
• Kenny Burrell, 'Round Midnight (Fantasy, 1972){{cite web|title='Round Midnight Kenny Burrell|url=http://www.concordmusicgroup.com/albums/Round-Midnight/|website=Concordmusicgroup.com|access-date=23 August 2014}}
• Jerry Butler, Power Of Love (Mercury, 1973)
• Dion DiMucci, Born to Be with You (Phil Spector, 1975)
• Marvin Gaye, Let's Get It On (Motown, 1973)
• Richard "Groove" Holmes, Welcome Home (World Pacific, 1968)
• Bobby Hutcherson, San Francisco (Blue Note, 1971)
• Milt Jackson, Memphis Jackson (Impulse!, 1969)
• Al Jarreau, Tenderness (Reprise, 1994)
• Gloria Jones, Windstorm (Capitol, 1978)
• B.B. King and Eric Clapton, Riding with the King (except tracks 3, 4, 8) (Reprise, 2000){{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/riding-with-the-king-mw0000066846/credits|title=Riding with the King - B.B. King, Eric Clapton - Credits |publisher=AllMusic|access-date=June 8, 2016}}
• Harold Land, The Peace-Maker (Cadet, 1968)
• Melissa Manchester, Don't Cry Out Loud (Arista, 1978)
• Carmen McRae, Can't Hide Love (Blue Note, 1976)
• Martha Reeves, Martha Reeves (MCA, 1974)
• Minnie Riperton, Adventures in Paradise (Epic, 1975)
• The Rippingtons, Welcome to the St. James' Club (GRP, 1990)
• Johnny Rivers, Outside Help (Big Tree, 1977)
• Brenda Russell, Get Here (A&M, 1988) – rec. 1985–87
• Ringo Starr, Stop and Smell the Roses (RCA, 1981)
• Boz Scaggs, Slow Dancer (Columbia, 1974)
• Lalo Schifrin, Enter the Dragon (soundtrack) (Warner Bros., 1973)
• Sonny & Cher, Mama Was a Rock and Roll Singer, Papa Used to Write All Her Songs (MCA, 1973)
• Dusty Springfield, It Begins Again (Mercury, 1978)
• Tina Turner, Private Dancer (Capitol, 1984)
• Stanley Turrentine, Everybody Come On Out (Fantasy, 1976)
• Stanley Turrentine, Do You Have Any Sugar? (Concord Vista, 1999)

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{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Joe Sample}}

• {{Discogs artist|60451-Joe-Sample}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170419194001/http://dev2.vervemusicgroup.com/joesample Joe Sample] biography at Verve Records
• {{IMDb name|0760105}}
• {{Find a Grave|135834396}}

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Category:1939 births

Category:2014 deaths

Category:African-American pianists

Category:American jazz pianists

Category:American male jazz pianists

Category:Smooth jazz pianists

Category:American organists

Category:American male organists

Category:20th-century American keyboardists

Category:Musicians from Houston

Category:Deaths from mesothelioma in the United States

Category:Deaths from cancer in Texas

Category:20th-century American pianists

Category:Blue Thumb Records artists

Category:ABC Records artists

Category:GRP Records artists

Category:Warner Records artists

Category:Verve Records artists

Category:MCA Records artists

Category:21st-century American keyboardists

Category:The Crusaders (jazz fusion group) members

Category:L.A. Express members

Category:20th-century American male musicians

Category:21st-century American male musicians

Category:African-American Catholics

Category:20th-century African-American musicians

Category:21st-century African-American musicians