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One of the many jazzmen who started out playing hard bop but went electric during the fusion era, Joe Sample was, in the late '50s, a founding member of <a href="spotify:artist:6BufIg68WvvzrEqoDI19Kl">the Jazz Crusaders</a> along with trombonist <a href="spotify:artist:55PU5eP7Ndxn5T3TvBdXZ2">Wayne Henderson</a>, tenor saxman <a href="spotify:artist:63cn8iGgLoxEHkp3mMPNXj">Wilton Felder</a>, and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:3iBiSxQPjIsqoiEgTaVJnp">Stix Hooper</a>. The <a href="spotify:artist:3Bhgbs9kIwl8SuU0eIqN6b">Crusaders</a>' debt to <a href="spotify:artist:6ykfXAed2KOLOMI3R0TZdz">Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers</a> wasn't hard to miss -- except that the L.A.-based unit had no trumpeter, and became known for its unique tenor/trombone front line. Sample, a hard-swinging player who could handle chordal and modal/scalar improvisation equally well, stuck to the acoustic piano during <a href="spotify:artist:3Bhgbs9kIwl8SuU0eIqN6b">the Crusaders</a>' early years -- but would place greater emphasis on electric keyboards when the band turned to jazz-funk in the early '70s and dropped "Jazz" from its name. Though he'd recorded as a trio pianist on 1969's obscure Fancy Dance, 1978's Rainbow Seeker was often described as his first album as a leader. In contrast to the gritty music <a href="spotify:artist:3Bhgbs9kIwl8SuU0eIqN6b">the Crusaders</a> became known for, Sample's own albums on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22MCA%22">MCA</a> and, later, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warner+Bros.%22">Warner Bros.</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22PRA%22">PRA</a> generally favored a very lyrical and introspective jazz-pop approach. Sample died of mesothelioma in September 2014 in Houston, Texas at the age of 75. In 2015, Sample's holiday-themed collaboration with vocalist India.Arie, Christmas with Friends, was posthumously released. ~ Alex Henderson, Rovi
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