Joe Sample PECAN TREE

Personnel includes: Joe Sample (piano); Howard Hewett, Lizz Wright (vocals); Peter Wolf (synthesizer); Dean Parks (guitar); Jay Anderson (bass); Larry Aberman, James Gadson (drums); Lenny Castro, Paulinho Da Costa (percussion).
Recorded at Schnee, Universal City, California; Oceanway, Tyrell Studios, Hollywood, California. Includes liner notes by Joe Sample.
Personnel: Joe Sample (piano); Dean Parks (guitar); Peter Wolf (synthesizer); Jay Anderson (bass instrument); Larry Aberman (drums); Lenny Castro (percussion).
Although pianist Joe Sample is perhaps best known for his adventurous fusion work in the 1970s with the Crusaders, as a solo artist he has favored a somewhat mellower yet no less artful brand of jazz that draws from post bop as well as Latin, gospel, and R&B. THE PECAN TREE represents this latter strain of Sample's work, drawing on Southern musical elements both north and south of the border.
Song titles like "Hot and Humid" and "Spanish Moss" give the album a sense of place, but it's Sample's fleet-fingered melodic sense that stands out, along with the playing by excellent personnel such as percussionist Lenny Castro. Singers Howard Hewitt (formerly of Shalimar) and Lizz Wright add a refreshing sparkle to some tracks, deepening THE PECAN TREES' connection to gospel and R&B music.

• Format: CD
• Genre: Pop