6084 - CREOLE JOE BAND (2013)

CREOLE JOE BAND
''CREOLE JOE BAND''
AUGUST 27 2013
48:12

1. Down In New Orleans (feat. Ray Parker Jr. & C.J. Chenier) /4:28
2. Louisiana Woman - Texas Man (feat. Ray Parker Jr. & C.J. Chenier) /4:21
3. Louisiana Lovin' (feat. Ray Parker Jr. & C.J. Chenier) /3:58
4. Zydeco Train (feat. Ray Parker Jr. & C.J. Chenier) /4:27
5. Jambalaya Jumble (feat. Ray Parker Jr. & C.J. Chenier) /4:14
6. Boomti, Boomti, Boom Boom (feat. Ray Parker Jr. & C.J. Chenier) /4:40
7. You Look Better Goin' Than Comin' (feat. Ray Parker Jr. & C.J. Chenier) /4:46
8. CreoleJoe (feat. Ray Parker Jr. & C.J. Chenier) /3:45
9. Zydeco Zoo (feat. Ray Parker Jr. & C.J. Chenier) /4:17
10. Down Home, Lown Down Zydeco Blues (feat. Ray Parker Jr. & C.J. Chenier) /4:58
11. If Anybody Ask You (feat. Ray Parker Jr. & C.J. Chenier) /4:18

Joe Sample/Accordion
Ray Parker Jr./Guitar, Vocals
C.J. Chenier/Accordion, Vocals
Erica Falls/Vocals
Raymond Weber/Drums
Alex McDonald/Serubboard, Vocals
June Yamaguchi/Guitar
Skip Nallia/Keyboards
Nick Sample/Bass, Vocals

In 1999 Joe Sample moved back to his hometown of Houston, Texas and rediscovered the “la la music” that was so much a part of his youth. Cajun accordion, Mississippi and Texas Delta Blues, and some good old Texas two step, all conspiring to create what Joe refers to as, Creole Folk Music.
The Creole Joe Band: a crazy and colorful reflection of their collective musical backgrounds is sure to put a smile on your face and a jump in your step.
Don’t miss this rare chance to experience this All-Star lineup LIVE!

BIOGRAPHY
by Alex Henderson
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 the Jazz Crusaders along with trombonist Wayne Henderson, tenor saxman Wilton Felder, and drummer Stix Hooper. The Crusaders' debt to Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers 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 The Crusaders' 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 The Crusaders became known for, Sample's own albums on MCA and, later, Warner Bros. and PRA have generally favored a very lyrical and introspective jazz-pop approach.

3182 - RANDY CRAWFORD & JOE SAMPLE - Live (2012)

RANDY CRAWFORD & JOE SAMPLE
WITH STEVE GADD & NICKLAS SAMPLE
''LIVE''
JULY 31 2012
49:42

1/Every Day I Have the Blues
Peter Chatman/5:13
2/Feeling Good
Leslie Bricusse / Anthony Newley/3:56
3/Tell Me More and More and Then Some
Billie Holiday/3:17
4/Rainy Night in Georgia
Tony Joe White/5:32
5/This Bitter Earth
Clyde Otis/3:47
6/Me, Myself and I
Irving Gordon / Alvin Kaufman / Allan Roberts/2:25
7/No Regrets
Charles Dumont / Michel Vaucaire/3:21
8/One Day I'll Fly Away
Will Jennings / Joe Sample/4:59
9/Almaz
Randy Crawford/5:02
10/Street Life
Will Jennings / Joe Sample/6:06
11/Last Night at Danceland
Will Jennings / Joe Sample/6:04

Randy Crawford/Vocals
Steve Gadd/Drums
Joe Sample/Piano
Nicklas Sample/Bass

REVIEW
by Thom Jurek
Randy Crawford's and Joe Sample's musical paths have been intertwined for 36 years; they began with his keyboard work on her debut album Everything Must Change in 1976. She returned the favor a couple of years later with her vocal on the Crusaders' 1978 smash "Street Life." The pair have worked together intermittently since then, but only formally recorded as a dual entity on 2007's Feeling Good, a collection of (mostly) jazz tunes and standards. They followed it with No Regrets in 2008, a collection of blues, soul, and pop tunes. Both albums were highly regarded critically. Sample's piano was aided by drummer Steve Gadd and bassist Christian McBride. Live was recorded on various European stages between October and December of 2008, immediately prior to and just after the release of No Regrets. Gadd is present here, but it is Sample's son Nicklas in the upright bass chair. The impeccably recorded program is drawn from both albums and then some. Beginning with an in-the-pocket read of "Everyday I Have the Blues," and continuing with standards from the jazz, blues, and soul books, the set is well-sequenced and feels very much like a seamless live date. There's an excellent, jazzed-up reading of "Street Life" surprisingly enough, and a shimmering take on Tony Joe White's "Rainy Night in Georgia" (that features Sample quoting from the Crusaders' "Hard Times" in his vamps and fills. There's also moving a version of Clyde Otis' "This Bitter Earth" (first recorded by Dinah Washington in 1960). The tunes that reflect the depth of Crawford's and Sample's musical relationship best, however, are in her "Almaz," and Sample's "One Day I'll Fly Away." On the former, Crawford's vocal is haunting, spare, intimate; it is underscored by Sample's elegant playing with its restrained harmonics and Spanish tinge. The latter tune was more risky. Given that the song was a hit for Crawford and is her best-known tune, the bubbling bassline and lush strings are parts of its signature. Stripping all that back for this piano-trio setting meant letting the tune's simple melody be the sole anchor for its smoldering emotion. Crawford deliberately understates it. Sample responds by filling the spaces with poetic economy and a new version emerges that is every bit as resonant. While Live is a further inscription in the collaborative book authored by Crawford and Sample, it is more, too: a classy, soulful example of inspired musicmaking.

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