He led The Crusaders, a jazz band who made the transition from acoustic to electronic music. (Source: Tom Beetz/Wikicommons)
By CHARLES J. GANSAssociated Press
Posted: Sep 13, 2014 6:29 PM BRT
Updated: Sep 14, 2014 2:09 AM BRT
Pianist and composer Joe Sample, a founding member of the genre-crossing Jazz Crusaders who helped pioneer the electronic jazz-funk fusion style, has died. He was 75.
Sample died of complications due to lung cancer Friday evening at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, his manager, Patrick Rains, told The Associated Press on Saturday. Rains said Sample's family was at his bedside.
Sample was "a seminal figure in the transition from acoustic to electronic music in the jazz field in the late '60s and early '70s" with his band, Rains said. The group, which later called itself The Crusaders, became a successful crossover act with such hits as the 1979 rhythm-and-blues-flavored single and album "Street Life" featuring singer Randy Crawford. A few years before that, they were the first instrumental band to open for the Rolling Stones on tour.
A prolific songwriter, his songs were sampled by hip-hop artists, including Tupac Shakur, who used "In All My Wildest Dreams" on his "Dear Mama." Nicole Kidman sang Sample's "One Day I'll Fly Away" in director Baz Luhrmann's film "Moulin Rouge."
read more:http://www.kptv.com/story/26525255/jazz-funk-pioneer-joe-sample-dies-at-75
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