Remembering Joe Sample With Reverence and Love…

By A. Scott Galloway

JOE SAMPLE: Pianist, Composer, Keyboard Master, Consummate Accompanist and Sideman, Storyteller – Rainbow Seeker and Jazz Crusader – made his Earthly transition this day. May he rest in a peace as deep as the warm wraparound blanket of sound he left behind…

What a profoundly soulful human being and musician. To talk with him was to always glean strong opinions and emphatically wrought insights as well as uncut commentary, cuss-fussin’ and side-splitting asides. What would my soul and ears be like today without his presence throughout my life? His touch was instantly identifiable be it on acoustic piano or Rhodes. So many golden moments: Motown sessions with Marvin Gaye and The Jackson 5, the floating Rhodes and vocal break on Minnie Riperton’s “Inside My Love,” gracing the first two songs on Steely Dan’s Aja (wicked clavinet on “Black Cow” followed by Fender Rhodes sublimity on “Aja” and later “Third World Man,” released on Gaucho but cut during the Aja sessions), orchestral arranger Claus Ogerman’s Gate of Dreams, the first Tom Scott & The L.A. Express LP featuring “Spindrift” and “L.A. Expression,” Michael Franks’ The Art of Tea and Sleeping Gypsy LPs (including a lyricized version of Sample’s “Chain Reaction”), Nicki Richards’ “Parallel Universe,” Brenda Russell’s “Get Here,” collaborative albums with Randy Crawford and Lalah Hathaway, and so much more. There was his Goliath-sized Gulf Coast jazz contribution with The Crusaders who made music as heady as it was accessibly soul-stirring and steeped in Afro classicism from the full spectrum of Black American expression. While his partners Wilton Felder, Stix Hooper and already departed Wayne Henderson all left lasting impressions in the catalog, Joe consistently kicked out the classics: “Put it Where You Want It,” “Freedom Sound,” “Tough Talk,” “A Message From The Inner City,” “A Search For Soul,” “Crossfire,” “A Ballad For Joe,” “It Happens Everyday,” “Street Life” and on and on… Then there were his solo masterpieces that instantly made him a superstar of contemporary jazz; Rainbow Seeker, Carmel, Spellbound, Invitation and The Pecan Tree to name just five – albums so rich in harmonic composition and vibration that they soaked into your subconscious like lotion. Even in hip hop, Sample was inescapable. The “sample” for one of renowned rap artist 2Pac’s most poignant pieces, “Dear Mama,” was gently lifted and looped from his composition “In All My Wildest Dreams.”

In essence, Joe Sample prided himself on being both a gifted and thoroughly studied musician capable of making magic happen at the service of everyone from Hoyt Axton to Letta Mbulu. He could hear beyond what a producer or even an artist could hear to deliver explicitly what the music needed. Deeper still, to those like me that had the pleasure of spending time with him, let alone those that knew him long and well, he was an irascible and unforgettable spirit that stole a big ol’ hunk of the chocolate cake that is your heart. Raise a glass of anything Top Shelf in memory of Joe Sample. There will never be another.

“Fly With Wings of Love.” Respect.

A. Scott Galloway
Music Editor
The Urban Music Scene

1. “Fly With Wings of Love” – Joe Sample (1978)

2. “Invitation” – Joe Sample (1993)