Search - Artist/Band: Joe Sample

• Name: Joe Sample
• Birthday: 02/01/1939
• Birth Place: Houston, TX
• Decades Active: 1960,1970,1980,1990,2000
• Genre: Jazz
• Styles: Cool, Crossover Jazz, Fusion, Mainstream Jazz, Post-Bop, Smooth Jazz, Hard Bop, Jazz-Pop, Soul Jazz
• Moods: Amiable/Good-Natured, Light, Gentle, Refined/Mannered, Smooth, Energetic, Freewheeling, Intimate, Relaxed, Sensual, Soft, Warm, Laid-Back/Mellow, Reserved, Romantic, Soothing, Sophisticated, Sparkling, Earthy, Organic, Playful, Rollicking, Sparse

Title	Release
No Regrets W	09/24/2008
Feeling Good	01/13/2008
Best of Best: Selected by Sato Hiroshi	06/30/2007
Introducing Joe Sample	03/07/2006
Soul Shadows	10/12/2004
The Pecan Tree W	06/11/2002
The Song Lives On WA	04/20/1999
The Best of Joe Sample WA	07/21/1998
Sample This	1997
Old Places, Old Faces	1995
Did You Feel That?	1994
Invitation	1993
Collection	10/15/1991
Voices in the Rain/Carmel	10/17/1990
Ashes to Ashes	1990
Spellbound	1989
Oasis	1985
Roles	1983
The Hunter WA	1982
Swing Street Café	1981
Voices in the Rain	1980
Carmel	1979
Rainbow Seeker	1978
Fancy Dance	04/20/1969

One of the many jazzmen who started out playing hard bop but went electric during the fusion era, Joe Sample was, in the late '50s, a founding member of the Jazz Crusaders along with trombonist Wayne Henderson, tenor saxman Wilton Felder, and drummer Stix Hooper. The Crusaders' debt to Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers wasn't hard to miss -- except that the L.A.-based unit had no trumpeter, and became known for its unique tenor/trombone front line. Sample, a hard-swinging player who could handle chordal and modal/scalar improvisation equally well, stuck to the acoustic piano during The Crusaders' early years -- but would place greater emphasis on electric keyboards when the band turned to jazz-funk in the early '70s and dropped "Jazz" from its name. Though he'd recorded as a trio pianist on 1969's obscure Fancy Dance, 1978's Rainbow Seeker was often described as his first album as a leader. In contrast to the gritty music The Crusaders became known for, Sample's own albums on MCA and, later, Warner Bros. and PRA have generally favored a very lyrical and introspective jazz-pop approach. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide