Joe Sample, the jazz pianist who, as a member of the Crusaders, helped promote electric piano as a lead instrument in the 1970s, has died aged 75.
Sample met fellow Crusaders Wilton Felder (saxophone) and Stix Hooper (drums) while at high school and formed the Swingsters. Later at university, trombonist Wayne Henderson, bass player Henry Wilson and flautist Hubert Laws were added to the group, which became the Modern Jazz Sextet.
After moderate success in Houston, Sample, Felder, Hooper and Henderson left for Los Angeles to become the Jazz Crusaders, a riposte to the successful Jazz Messengers led by Art Blakey. The Jazz Crusaders recorded their first album, Freedom Sound, in 1961.
Over a decade later, following the decline in popularity of acoustic jazz, the Jazz Crusaders went electric and dropped the first part of their name. But it was not until songwriter Will Jennings’ lyrics and the unmistakable signature vibrato of Randy Crawford were applied to a Joe Sample track, resulting in ‘Street Life’, a smash hit worldwide in 1979, that the Crusaders broke free from their ‘special interest’ billing.
By the time ‘Street Life’ was recorded, Henderson (who also died earlier this year) had left the Crusaders to pursue a career as a producer. Stix Hooper left in 1983, leaving Sample and Felder to continue to work together for a while. But by the late 1980s, Sample was focusing on his solo career, which had begun with the 1969 trio album Fancy Dance’ and included mellow pop-jazz records like ‘Carmel’ (1979). Felder, meanwhile, had his greatest commercial success with ‘Inherit the Wind’ (1980) featuring the recently departed Bobby Womack on vocals.
Joe Sample also maintained a busy career as a studio musician. Among the albums on which his keyboard work can be heard are Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” Joni Mitchell’s “Court and Spark” and “The Hissing of Summer Lawns,” Tina Turner’s “Private Dancer,” Steely Dan’s “Aja” and “Gaucho,” and several recordings by B. B. King. His music has been sampled on numerous hip-hop records, most notably Tupac Shakur’s “Dear Mama.”
