Joe Sample

For longtime fans of legendary keyboard player/composer Joe Sample, the news of his GRP/PRA Records debut, The Song Lives On, is cause for dancing across a musical landscape of time. Featuring the soulful vocalist, Lalah Hathaway, the collection gracefully combines completely new material, pop standards from Sample's youth, and treasures from his own songbook. Sample has entertained for more than four decades, first as a founding member of the ground-breaking fusion ensemble The Crusaders, and since the late '70s, as a popular solo contemporary jazz artist. The Song Lives On reflects his unique approach in revisiting, via fresh arrangements, classic songs from distinct eras of his life.

Sample began playing piano at age five and the Houston, Texas native rooted himself in many different musical genres including gospel, soul, bebop, blues, Latin, and classical music. Like many jazzmen of his time, Sample started out playing hard bop, but went electric during the fusion era. Along with trombonist Wayne Henderson, tenor saxophonist Wilton Felder and drummer Stix Hooper, Sample launched The Jazz Crusaders in the late '50s. Relocating from their hometown of Houston to Los Angeles, The Jazz Crusaders, who attended Texas Southern University together, patterned themselves after Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and became renowned for their unique tenor/trombone front line.

Sample focused on the acoustic piano during The Crusaders' early years, but placed greater emphasis on electric keyboards when the band turned to jazz/funk in the early '70s and dropped the "Jazz" from its name. After collecting numerous gold and platinum albums over the course of nearly three decades, The Crusaders' last official recording was Life in the Modern World in 1987. Sample and Felder later released Healing the Wounds on GRP in the early '90s.

Though he recorded with a trio on 1969's obscure Fancy Dance, 1978's Rainbow Seeker marked Sample's first official solo album as a leader. His lyrical, introspective, and highly rhythmic compositional approach celebrated the beginning of what is known today as "contemporary jazz", and since the release of Spellbound in 1989, his first Warner Brothers album, the pianist has become one of the most enduring artists of the genre. His recordings include Carmel, Voices in the Rain, Ashes to Ashes, Invitation, Did You Feel That, Old Places, and of course, the George Duke produced Sample This. GRP has also released The Joe Sample Collection and the three CD Crusaders Collection as a testament to Sample's enduring legacy. In addition to his own recording and touring, Sample has proven a valuable studio and touring sideman over the years to numerous musical greats in all genres including Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner, BB King, Joe Cocker, Randy Crawford, Anita Baker, and Andrae Crouch.

Sample has toured twice with the husky voiced Hathaway, the daughter of legendary R&B singer Donny Hathaway; first, throughout the U.S. in 1992, and more recently, last summer in Japan. "Working so closely with Lalah has helped me to better appreciate her ability to convey powerful emotions in subtle ways which is not typical of so many of today's pop singers," says Sample. "I've never been a formulaic Top 40 songwriter, and usually the singers like Crawford or Al Jarreau who have done well with my tunes are great interpreters. Lalah has those same instincts. Aside from being an incredibly positive person, she and I really seem to understand where each of us is coming from musically. She took very easily to the songs Randy had sung, and gave a lift to timeworn favorites like "Fever", which we performed in Japan, and "For All We Know".

In addition to her elegant and seductive twists on those two gems, Hathaway's passionate delivery breathes new life into four classic Sample/Jennings tunes. Familiar to longtime Sample fans are the brisk and brassy "Street Life" (a Top 40 hit in 1979), the melancholy blues of "When Your Life Was Low," a more wistful and optimistic vow that "One Day I'll Fly Away" and the irresistibly bittersweet "When the World Turns Blue". Famed lyricist Norman Gimbel wrote whimsical words to Sample's beloved "All God's Children" (from 1989's Spellbound) to create "Come Along With Me," another showcase for Hathaway's upbeat spirit. Sample also adds to his resumé as an instrumental composer, penning four new tracks which include the smoky title track, the subtly shaded "Living In Blue", "A Long Way From Home", and the lively, percussion driven bonus track, "Bittersweet". Joining the core trio, which includes Sample on piano and Rhodes, bassist Jay Anderson, and drummer Walfredo Reyes, Jr., are smooth jazz saxophonist Kirk Whalum ("The Song Lives On", "Fever", "When Your Life Was Low", "One Day I'll Fly Away"), electric guitarist Mike Thompson, keyboard player David Delhomme, and percussionist Lenny Castro.

Summarizing the inspiration behind the concept which gave birth to The Song Lives On, Sample says, "I grew up in a time and place where segregation was an acceptable way of life, and for me the piano was the only place I could run for an act of healing. I still feel that expressing myself this way is my great sanctuary. I would like my legacy to be not only that I reflected the times in which I lived, but also that my music had the power to help heal people's pain the way it has healed mine."