Joe Sample 1939-2014

[mjazzg]

Saw The Crusaders round about 1979. They were so in at the time that BBC Radio 4's "Today" briefly featured them in a theme tune IIRC!!

They were definitely 'in' around them. 'Street Life' would have been current - in fact I remember being in a record shop (now long gone) circa 1976 and a load of teens of both sexes digging 'Those Southern Knights' as it was given a spin on the deck.

I could've been one of them. Crusaders rescued me from Heavy Rock and pointed me to some initial steps down a jazzy soul path. RIP Joe Sample

[king ubu]

another obit:

http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/texas/article/Jazz-funk-pioneer-Joe-Sample-dies-at-75-5753599.php

[LarryCurleyMoe]

Loved Joe's sound and style on keys. Always grooving always funky, always made me feel great! Love the Crusaders! R.I.P. Joe Sample.

[mr jazz]

Those Southern Knights was my introduction to the band. I just picked up the Mosaic box. RIP Joe Sample.

[JohnS]

Sad news indeed. The Jazz Crusaders were a great little unit.

[sidewinder]

Saw The Crusaders round about 1979. They were so in at the time that BBC Radio 4's "Today" briefly featured them in a theme tune IIRC!!

They were definitely 'in' around them. 'Street Life' would have been current - in fact I remember being in a record shop (now long gone) circa 1976 and a load of teens of both sexes digging 'Those Southern Knights' as it was given a spin on the deck.

I could've been one of them. Crusaders rescued me from Heavy Rock and pointed me to some initial steps down a jazzy soul path. RIP Joe Sample

The ironic thing is that the same shop had a Blue Note brown-bag US import twofer of 'The Young Rabbits' on display in the window at the time but everyone ignored that. It was in Taunton by the way - back of beyond in jazz terms.

Edited September 16, 2014 by sidewinder

[Thomas Jackson]

Man been out a minute this is a downer.Meet Joe in Greensboro,NC in the 80's and had a chance to really rap and party with him at his hotel after his gig. Hooked up with him years later at The Berks Jazzfest me the wife and some fams hung out with him at an midnite jam after the concert. Really cool Cat. RIP. Word

Edited September 16, 2014 by Thomas Jackson

[sidewinder]

Nice tribute today in The Times (UK). Shame it's behind a paywall but basically stressing what a fine, decent guy Joe seems to have been.

[AndrewHill]

Man what a year so far for losing jazz greats. What a loss.

[Noj]

I've been a fan of the Crusaders since my first days of getting into jazz, and I actually started collecting the funkier stuff before even knowing that they were originally the Jazz Crusaders. That meant I got two separate periods of discovery with the group, and I absolutely love their sound in both eras. Crusaders 1 and The Second Crusade were albums I paid extra money to obtain and they're still favorites. RIP Mr. Sample, and thank you for all the great music.

[Dave Garrett]

The Houston Press has been running a series of blog posts examining Joe Sample's work as a session musician. Latest one is here:

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2014/09/sampling_joe_sample_1977.php

which also contains links to the earlier posts as well as the obit they ran.

[sgcim]

Tuned in on the middle of an interview done last year with Joe on WBAI last night.

It was sad, because he kept saying that he was playing better than he'd ever played before, and wanted to get out and play.

He mentioned that he already had two heart attacks, and his BP was through the roof, so he knew he didn't have too much longer...

He said that the reason why they went from The Jazz Crusaders to the Crusaders was because he wanted to tour Japan, and Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers were fucking up too much because they were a bunch of junkies.

He figured if they dropped the "Jazz" from their name, they wouldn't be associated with the Jazz Messengers, and they could tour Japan!

He put down the free jazz movement in NYC in 1968, because it was too much of a break from the black music that he loved, and also put down all the guys adopting African names and wearing dashikis back then.

He said the one thing he refused to do was to play things the same way on sessions and gigs, and put down some of the people who made him play that way (including Donald Fagen).

Edited September 23, 2014 by sgcim