Joe Sample + NDR Bigband Orchestra – Children Of The Sun (2015)

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Joe Sample, as vastly underrated a composer as he was a pianist, hadn’t put forth a studio album of new material since his Grammy-nominated The Pecan Tree; that was back in 2002. Children of the Sun is his long-awaited follow-up to that, set for release stateside January 6, 2015 by PRA Records.

Sample, unfortunately, won’t be around for the event; just a couple of months after these 2011 recordings had gone through the final mixing, he had died on September 12, 2014.

Sample has done so much as a leader, composer, sideman and accompanist to singers like Joe Cocker, Randy Crawford and Lalah Hathaway. During his final years, he showed a rekindled interest in playing alongside the trombone; that could be traced to the Crusaders’ 2003 reunion album Rural Renewal where Steve Baxter filled in for the absent Wayne Henderson, and then in 2006 he taped a relaxed set of Big Easy-flavored covers with Swedish funk-jazz trombonist/vocalist Nils Landgren for Creole Love Call. Sample even reunited with Henderson along with saxophonist Wilton Felder for an acoustic-minded Jazz Crusaders reunion tour a few years ago.

Landgren wasn’t done making music with the star pianist, however. He invited Sample to make a record with the Hamburg, Germany-based NDR Bigband Orchestra. This wasn’t Sample’s first time leading an orchestra-sized band for a studio album; Invitation featured heavy brass and string orchestration for a lush remake of jazz standards.

This time, Sample came to Hamburg with new material, original music that stemmed from a visit to the Virgin Islands in the mid-nineties. There, he was struck by the beauty and serenity of Saint Croix Island being the scene of brutal slavery that lasted for centuries. That stark realization set into motion the formulation of the set of melodies, and Sample felt that the meeting with the NDR Bigband Orchestra was the right time to bring them to life. Early New World slaves from Africa such as those on Saint Croix are often referred to in more contemporary times as “Children of the Sun,” inspiring the title for this project.

Besides Landgren, the key contributor of Sample’s final venture is all-world drummer Steve Gadd, who last starred with Sample for the latter’s soul excursion Did You Feel That? twenty years ago. Gadd’s legendary feel for a groove is the first thing on the entire album: “I Wanna Go Home” greets your ears a second-line gait, with Sample presenting the funky Gulf Coast funk motif, and the massive bank of horn nudging its way into the song and give its own spin on it with extra contours. Landgren’s trombone isn’t really part of the orchestra, it serves as a solo instrument here and elsewhere; the NDR members often take turns playing his foil. Thus, striking thing about Children Of The Sun is how well Sample’s unique blend of jazz, blues and gospel scales up to big band dimensions. The arrangements are key to this; they don’t get in the way of the core trio of Sample, Gadd, and double bassist Ingmar Heller (Stephen Diez contributes guitar on the majority of the tracks).

Coming right after “Home,” “Buttermilk Sky” is better still, feeling like a lost track from the Rainbow Seeker, and the abundance of horns underlining the harmonic changes in Sample’s melody, with Sample himself taking a short solo on piano that’s expressed in a fluid a prose all his own. “Islands of the Mind” moves away from the funky side of things into chamber jazz, which is squarely in NDR’s territory, and the scoring illuminates the elegance built in Sample’s composing style. These two sides of Sample are reconciled to a near-perfect balance for “Gold in the Cane,” a classically styled intro followed by a calypso rhythm blended with the sophistication of Ellingtonian jazz.

Within these heavier arrangements are room for individual performances, of which most are undertaken by Sample and his co-producer Landgren. The trombonist is given an extended spotlight on the title tune and acquits himself with a sweet, soulful exploit. “Blue Abyss” is a deeper dive into straight jazz, a smoky, swinging tune that features no less than six of the horn players in solo spots.

This wasn’t intended to be Joe Sample’s swan song, but from a songwriting standpoint where nearly all of the facets of his style are present, Children Of The Sun puts a nice, elegant bow on a long, fruitful and influential career. Marrying his sophisticated composing trait to a sympathetic jazz orchestra means he left us still exploring all the possibilities by which to demonstrate his genius. It’s a coda well worth exploring and enjoying.

S. Victor Aaron