Born in
1939, Joe Sample is a lesser-known, but tremendously talented
jazz pianist. He started his professional career by co-founding and playing with the
Jazz Crusaders in the late
1950s; The
Crusaders later dropped the "Jazz" portion of their name as the
1970s approached, becoming more of a jazz-
funk "
fusion" band, with Sample playing keyboards.
Sample got involved with other acts on the side, including the
1969 effort,
Fancy Dance. In 1978, he put out
Rainbow Seeker, which is considered by many to be the first album featuring him as a "
front man".
Sample has continued to put out solo albums ever since, most of which generally explore lighter
textures and the more mellow portions of the jazz
spectrum. In
1997, he played with
Eric Clapton and
David Sanborn for a few dates during the
European Jazz Festivals. Most recently, his
2002 effort,
The Pecan Tree, has been receiving excellent reviews.
Some references in this writeup done with the assistance of Alex Henderson's profile of Joe Sample at
allmusic.com