Unpublished interview - Randy Crawford and Joe Sample
Joe Sample and Randy Crawford.
© Paul Bergen / Redferns / Getty images
By: Joe Farmer Follow
4 min
In 2006, singer Randy Crawford and pianist Joe Sample released a joint album aptly titled
Feeling good
.
It is true that these two great personalities of jazz then like to combine together a musical vocabulary steeped in good feelings.
Since their meeting in 1976, these two sensitive souls never left each other.
The archivists of "L'épopée" found a joyful interview during which these two accomplices shared the same smiles and the same passions.
Joe Sample is no longer of this world, but being able to hear him joke with his soul mate, Randy Crawford, is a rather thrilling sound document.
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Born in Macon, Georgia, on February 18, 1952, singer Randy Crawford was fortunate enough to sparkle in the spotlight with a melody that made her famous, at the end of the 70s, the famous classic of the Crusaders,
Street Life
. However, it would be unfair to reduce his epic to this simple successful bluette. Randy Crawford has demonstrated, over the decades, the harmonious amplitude of his voice on very successful albums like
Secret Combination
which will be certified double platinum disc in 1981. If one can sometimes regret the bombastic ornamentations of certain productions to the detriment of a limpid highlighting of his voice, Randy Crawford retains a singular aura among his many admirers capable of distinguishing its brilliant Soul range of hazardous artistic choices.
Randy Crawford and Joe Sample on stage November 6, 2007 at the Edison Jazz Awards.
© Paul Bergen / Redferns / Getty images
Unlike his dear sister, Joe Sample was not just a performer of "L'épopée des Musiques Noires". Born in Houston, Texas, on February 1, 1939, he was one of those essential instrumentalists, pillars of recording studios, whose qualities as a composer were quickly recognized. Founding member of the Crusaders, a Soul-Jazz formation very popular in the 60s and 70s, he was also a much sought-after accompanist. We see him alongside major African-American personalities such as Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner, BB King, Anita Baker, among others ... At the twilight of his life, he had shown a certain taste for his youthful heroes, the Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton or James Reese Europe. He passed away on September 12, 2014 at the age of 75.
Randy Crawford and Joe Sample in concert, during the Montreux Jazz Festival, July 7, 2013 © Lionel Flusin / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
When Randy Crawford and Joe Sample came to chat happily on our airwaves on November 17, 2006, we could feel the mutual admiration that united these two sensitive souls.
Beyond the complicity, there was this artistic and human connivance that their exchanges could not hide.
Happy to come and talk about their common passion for music, they seemed to be enjoying this renewed interest from the public and the media for their new association, 15 years after
Street Life
.
This new spotlight also continued on stage, greeted by an album recorded in public during the European tour of 2008. In 2013, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland had the good idea to bring them together again for an ultimate musical sharing. .
This moment of instinctive communion was as moving as it was gratifying.
The memory of their presence in our studios is all the more precious.
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Randy Crawford official Facebook
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Joe Sample's official Facebook
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