Joe Sample, Piano, 1939, Houston, TX
While in his teens, Joe became a founding member of the group The Crusaders, a group he would be associated with for the next three decades. He studied music at Texas Southern University, and in the late 50s, after graduating, moved to Los Angeles. Around 1961 Joe started to play the organ as well as piano, and began experimenting with the Wurlitzer electric piano, and the Fender-Rhodes electric piano on which he developed a hard, percussive, bluesy approach. From the late '60s Joe accompanied pop artists such as Diana Ross and the Jackson Five. He also played in the bop groups led by Harold Land and Bobby Hutcherson. During the mid '70s he toured and recorded with Joni Mitchell. Joe continued to play both jazz and rock-and-roll into the 1980s.
Sam (Tricky) Nanton, Trombone, 1904, New York, NY
In the early 1920s Sam played with Elmer Snowden and then Cliff Jackson, and in 1926 he joined DukeEllington, replacing Charlie Irvis. He was able to master the novel "growl and plunger" techniques pioneered by Bubber Miley, thus earning his unusual nickname. It was Nanton that helped produce the familiar "jungle" sound of Duke's early recordings. Nanton, like several other musicians, spent his entire career with Ellington. He contributed numerous "talking" solos that were so popular with Ellington's recorded output. Although his range on the trumpet was rather limited, (his solos seldom span more than one octave), Nanton's performances had a warm earthy quality which fit so beautifully with Ellington's writing. Tricky Sam Nanton died in 1946.
Joshua Redman, Tenor Saxophone, 1969, Berkeley, CA
James P Johnson, Piano, 1894, New Brunswick, NH
Sadao Watanabe, Saxophone, 1933, Japan
