Joe Sample is on a crusade to spread what he calls the healing power of jazz.

And he's excited about doing it in a city he considers a jazz mecca.

After a stint as a pianist with the Jazz Crusaders, Sample went on to have a successful solo career. Now he's coming to town later this month to assist the Coda Jazz Fund.

The Coda Jazz Fund Benefit Concert will be held May 20 at the Gem Theater. The event will feature the Joe Sample Trio, Queen Bey and Bobby Watson with the University of Missouri-Kansas City Jazz Ensemble.
I spoke with Sample over the weekend from his home in Houston, and he had high praise for the musical heritage of this city.

"Kansas City is a mecca," Sample said. "I know I'm going back to one of the musical bread-baskets of America. It always excites me to go there."

Sample can recall performing with the Crusaders numerous times at the Uptown Theater almost four decades ago.
He called Kansas City a "groove town," a place where the emphasis is on the enjoyment of the music - not its complexities.

"I've always thought of Kansas City as a groove land," Sample said. "The groove factor in music is just as important as the intellectual side of jazz. I've always known about the music that was coming out of KC."
Although he's been successful financially, Sample understands the need for the Coda Jazz Fund.
"I think when I die I will have money to bury myself," Sample said. "I make a good living. I believe that I've been blessed."

Sample told me that he was shocked when he learned years ago that Art Tatum, a legendary jazz pianist, died in 1956 without much money.

"They described him at the time of his death as a pauper," Sample said. "That was very hard for me to understand. Here was this man with all these skills."

Sample's skills were honed early. He learned to play piano at 5. He went on to attend Texas Southern University for three years and then founded the Jazz Crusaders along with trombonist Wayne Henderson, tenor sax man Wilton Felder and drummer Stix Hooper.

The group earned numerous gold and platinum albums over almost three decades of recording. His solo recordings include the 1999 release "The Song Lives On" and the 2002 release "The Pecan Tree," a recording based on his hometown of Houston.

"I learned to get into other forms of music like classical and Caribbean music," Sample said. "I get into country and western music if it's very good. I love all music if it's good. I dislike with a passion bad music."
Here's what's amazing about Sample. He's convinced his music is therapeutic for listeners.

"I sense a purpose in me," Sample said. "God sent me here to communicate. When I communicate with people, they have an opportunity to be healed by a healing force. I just feel like I'm a tool transmitting through the supreme being, the power of healing."

That's deep, I told Sample.

"I feel that," Sample said. "And when I'm playing, I'm healing myself. So consequently, for as long as I'm healing and people can sense the healing, I'll be here to the day that I die."

The Coda concert is the feel-good event of the year. And supporters will feel gratified that evening for helping out such a worthy cause. And who knows. If Sample's right, concertgoers will not only enjoy an unforgettable evening, they may come away feeling better than before.

Tickets to the event can be purchased at (816) 931-3330 or (816) 474-6262.
To reach Steve Penn, call (816) 234-4417 or send e-mail to spenn@kcstar.com.


 

 

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE KANSAS CITY STAR