Imagine hearing the legendary Jazz Crusaders when they took the hard-bop scene by storm in the 1960s. Recently, at Yoshi's jazz club in Oakland, California, I didn't have to imagine. Pianist Joe Sample reunited with trombonist Wayne Henderson and saxophonist Wilton Felder, and they're currently on tour with Joe's son, Nick Sample, on bass, and Moyes Lucas on drums. Now living legends all, the Crusaders were one of those seminal bands that made jazz more accessible to an audience that wanted to dance, by bringing in elements of R&B, funk, and soul--but without sacrificing a single note of bebop scholarship and virtuosity in the bargain.

To make a long story short, the show was one of the best jazz performances I've ever seen, bar none. Maybe even the best. The musicianship was as sophisticated as anything that might play Carnegie Hall, but the energy knocked you out of your chair--this was what jazz sounded like when it was the music of rebellion, not cotillions.

So imagine my delight that Joe Sample agreed to video interview just after sound check. Major thanks to his management, Patrick Rains Associates, and tour manager Paul Mitchell, for hooking this up. In the videos below, Joe discusses pianos, the old and new Rhodes, technique, making it in music, technology, and even shows us some of his favorite approaches to chord voicings in the fourth segment. We plan to be hearing a lot more from Joe in the near future, hopefully in the form of a more formal feature in the magazine and some tie-in music lessons. Here's a taste of what's to come. Thank you, Mr. Sample!

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