Joe Sample
Soul Shadows
(Verve - 2004)
by Harvey Cline

When it comes to jazz these days, there’s very few around who have stood the test of time like Joe Sample. The former Crusader sits down to the piano this time to churn out a dozen oldies that’s sure to bring a smile to his fans. The credits boast of Joe Sample – solo piano. And that folks is what this is. It’s as if Joe’s come over for the evening and just sat down at the piano in your living room. I’m sure that it’s a dozen of his favorites from over the years, and this disc should be an instant classic.

Timeless tunes from Fats Waller (“Jitterbug Waltz”), Jelly Roll Morton (“Shreveport Stomp”), and George Gershwin (“I Got Rhythm”) are covered here. The one real surprise is Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer”. Memories of the movie by the same name flash by as you hear this one again. The disc starts off with the always fun “How You Gonna Keep ‘Em Down On The Farm?” followed by the show hit “Ain’t Misbehavin’.

Sample throws in a couple of his tunes with “Spellbound” and the title track “Soul Shadows”. "Soul Shadows" is played a little bit different this time around and sounds more retrospective as the tempo slows down. This being the title track gives a double meaning as each song has embraced a “soul” over the years, and looms a long shadow from its inception.

There’s a lot of a ragtime flare to this disc, and it makes some of the riffs a lot of fun. It isn’t something we get to hear a lot of today in this world of over dubs and synthesizers. Thanks Joe for coming over. We’ll have to do it again sometime.

---

---