Remembering the great Joe Sample on his birthday (Feb 1, 1939 – Sep 12, 2014). Joe could play the funkiest of tunes to the most sublime piano. In high school in the 1950s, Sample teamed up with friends saxophonist Wilton Felder and drummer "Stix" Hooper to form a group called the Swingsters. While studying piano at Texas Southern University, Sample met and added trombonist Wayne Henderson and several other players to the Swingsters, which became the Modern Jazz Sextet and then the Jazz Crusaders

One of our favorite songs from the wonderful Randy Crawford and Joe Sample, as we celebrate Miss Crawford's 70th birthday with "Street Life." Besides working with Joe Sample and the Crusaders, she's had more than 20 records of her own and has recorded with Al Jarreau, George Benson, Quincy Jones to Rick Springfield and William "Bootsy" Collins. After suffering a stroke in 2018, Miss Crawford retired. We are thinking of her on her birthday. | JazzCorner