Sample was born in Houston, Texas, on February 1, 1939, the youngest son of Alexander Sample, a mail-carrier, and Agatha (née Osborne) Sample, a seamstress. Sample began to play the piano at age 5. He was a student of the organist and pianist (Theodore or T.) Curtis Mayo.
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 , in emulation of one of the leading progressive jazz bands of the day, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Sample never took a degree from the university; instead, in 1960, he and the Jazz Crusaders made the move from Houston to Los Angeles. He was a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.
The group quickly found opportunities on the West Coast, making its first recording, Freedom Sounds in 1961 and releasing up to four albums a year over much of the 1960s. The Jazz Crusaders played at first in the dominant hard bop style of the day, standing out by virtue of their unusual front-line combination of saxophone (played by Wilton Felder) and Henderson's trombone. Another distinctive quality was the funky, rhythmically appealing acoustic piano playing of Sample, who helped steer the group's sound into a fusion between jazz and soul in the late 1960s. The Jazz Crusaders became a strong concert draw during those years.
While Sample and his band mates continued to work together, he and the other band members pursued individual work as well. In 1969 Sample made his first recording under his own name; Fancy Dance featured the pianist as part of a jazz trio. In the 1970s, as the Jazz Crusaders became simply the Crusaders and branched out into popular sounds, Sample became known as a Los Angeles studio musician, appearing on recordings by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner, B. B. King, Joe Cocker, Minnie Riperton, Anita Baker and The Supremes. In 1975 he went into the studios with jazz legends Ray Brown on bass, and drummer Shelly Manne to produce a then state-of-the-art recording direct to disc entitled The Three. About this time Blue Note Records reissued some of the early work by the Jazz Crusaders as "The Young Rabbits". This was a compilation of their recordings done between 1962 and 1968.
The electric keyboard was fairly new in the sixties, and Sample became one of the instrument's pioneers. He began to use the electric piano while the group retained their original name, and the group hit a commercial high-water mark with the hit single "Street Life" and the album of the same name in 1979. In 1978 he recorded Swing Street Café with guitarist David T. Walker.
The Crusaders, after losing several key members, broke up after recording Life in the Modern World for the GRP label in 1987. Despite the disbanding of the Crusaders, the members would join each other to record periodically over the years, releasing Healing the Wounds in the early 1990s. Felder, Hooper, and Sample recorded their first album, called Rural Renewal, as the reunited Crusaders group in 2003 and played a concert in Japan in 2004.
After Sample's A Fancy Dance (1969), he recorded several solo albums, including Sample This, produced by George Duke.
GRP also released Joe Sample Collection, and a three-disc the Crusaders Collection, as testament to Sample's enduring legacy. Some of the pianist's recent recordings are The Song Lives On (1999), featuring duets with singer Lalah Hathaway, and The Pecan Tree (2002), a tribute to his hometown of Houston, where he relocated in 1994. His 2004 album on Verve, Soul Shadows, paid tribute to Duke Ellington and Jelly Roll Morton, and pre-jazz bandleader James Reese Europe. In 2007 he recorded Feeling Good with vocalist Randy Crawford. In the mid-seventies, The Crusaders added guitarist Larry Carlton.
Sample appeared on stage at The Waterfront Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 28 May 2000, playing keyboard solo on George Benson's Deeper Than You Think. This concert was recorded and a DVD entitled George Benson: Absolutely Live was subsequently released. A studio version of Deeper Than You Think was recorded featuring Joe Sample in New York in May 1999 during sessions for a Benson collection which took the title Absolutely Benson. Fans again believe there may have been other collaborations of Sample - Benson which remain in the vaults unreleased.
Some of his works were featured on The Weather Channel's "Local on the 8s" segments and his song "Rainbow Seeker" is included in their 2008 compilation release, The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II. Nicole Kidman sang his song "One Day I'll Fly Away" in the Baz Luhrmann film Moulin Rouge! The very popular "In All My Wildest Dreams", also from the 1978 album Rainbow Seeker, was sampled on Tupac's "Dear Mama", De la Soul's "WRMS's Dedication to the Bitty", Toni Braxton's "What's Good" and Arrested Development's "Africa's Inside Me".
Sample died of mesothelioma in Houston, Texas, at the age of 75. His survivors included his son, bassist Nicklas Sample (with ex-wife Marianne), who is a member of the Coryell Auger Sample Trio featuring Julian Coryell and Karma Auger.
With These Hands
Joe Sample Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I will cling to you
I'm yours
Forever and a day
And with these hands
I will bring to you
A tender love
As warm as May
And with this heart
I will sing,
I will sing to you
Long after the stars
Have lost their glow
And with these hands
I'll provide for you
And should there be a stormy sea
I'll turn the tide for you
And I'll never
No, I'll never, no
No, I'll never
Never let you go
Oh, no, no
No, no, no, no, oooh, oooh yea
And with these hands
I'll provide for you
And should there be a stormy sea
I'll turn the tide for you
And I'll never, oh no
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
I'll never, oh yea
I don't think you heard me,
I said I'll never oh no
oh, oh
I'll never never, never, never, yea, yea, yea
Said I'll never
Never let you
Never let you go, no, no yea
The song "With These Hands" by Joe Sample is about a person who pledges their unwavering love and loyalty to their partner or significant other, through thick and thin, for better or for worse. The lyrics detail how the person plans to cling to their loved one, providing them with both physical and emotional support. The singer expresses that they will do whatever it takes to make their partner happy and keep them safe, even if that means turning the tides during a stormy sea.
The lyrics also convey that the love the singer has for their partner is not fleeting but will remain consistent and strong like a summer's day. They will continue to sing to their partner long after the stars lose their shine. The singer assures their loved one that they will never let go, reiterating it multiple times throughout the song.
Overall, "With These Hands" is a heartfelt love song that conveys a sense of devotion and adoration. It is a song that captures the powerful emotions that come with being in love and the lengths one is willing to go to be with the person they love.
Line by Line Meaning
With these hands
I will use my hands to hold onto you tightly.
I will cling to you
I will hold onto you deeply and with feelings of attachment.
I'm yours
You have my love and commitment, and I am yours truly.
Forever and a day
My commitment to you is a forever-long promise.
And with these hands
I will use my hands to show you how sincere my love for you is.
I will bring to you
I will share with you my expressions of love, care, and affection.
A tender love
I will express my feelings of love towards you in a sweet, delicate manner.
As warm as May
I will show you my love with warmth, the same way the month of May connotes a feeling of warmth and new beginnings.
And with this heart
I will express my love to you from deep within my heart.
I will sing,
I will share with you my emotions through singing.
I will sing to you
I will use my voice to serenade you with love songs and express my love through music.
Long after the stars
I will continue to love you and shower you with love, long after other people's love fades away.
Have lost their glow
Even after the best moments have passed and the romance fades, I will still show you my love and stay committed to you.
And with these hands
I will use my physical means to provide for you as your support pillar.
I'll provide for you
I will use my resources and financial means to take care of you.
And should there be a stormy sea
If we face challenging times, I will be there to support and help you through the hard times.
I'll turn the tide for you
I will work hard towards turning around any difficult situation that we may face, to make things better for you and us.
And I'll never
I will work hard to ensure that there will never be a moment where I give up on you or our relationship.
No, I'll never, no
I will never give up on you or our relationship, through the many trials that we may face.
Never let you go
I will cling onto you through everything and ensure that at no moment will you face difficulties alone.
Oh, no, no
I am firm and committed to our relationship.
No, no, no, no, oooh, oooh yea
My commitment is unshakeable and unwavering.
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: A. Silver, Benny Davis
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind