Remembering the great Joe Sample on his birthday (Feb 1, 1939 – Sep 12, 2014). Joe could play the funkiest of tunes to the most sublime piano. 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

Joe Cocker - I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today, Live in Grammy. The Crusaders were a Jazz/Soul group led by Joe Sample, a piano player who wrote this song with Will Jennings. The Crusaders used many guest vocalists, and Joe Cocker sang lead on this (it appears on his album Ultimate Collection). The message of hope after overcoming difficult times was a good fit for Cocker, who battled alcohol addiction in the '70s. Will Jennings told us: Joe and I wrote quite a few worthy songs over the years,