Edgar Sampson
Appearances
![Stompin' at the Savoy [ASV/Living Era]](/cache/JHS/f1/130x130_on-sale_f13515cintm.png)
Diminutive fireball Chick Webb led the most explosive swing band of the '30s, and though the group was far too active to enter the studio as much as they deserved, [more]
- List Price: $17.98
- Member Price: $11.98
Blue Note designed Oscillatin' Rhythm: Great Swing Hits in Hi-Fi to appeal to Gen-X hipsters enamored with Sinatra, martinis, lounge music, cigars and [more]
- List Price: $16.98
- Member Price: $11.98
With cooperation from the Verve and Columbia Legacy catalogs, the Ken Burns Jazz series on CD individually spotlights the musical excellence of 22 jazz originators whose careers [more]
- List Price: $16.99
- Member Price: $4.98
Forget for a moment that The Best of Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday was tied into the release of the superb box set, Lady Day: The Complete Billie [more]
- List Price: $33.98
- Member Price: $15.98
During 1991-92, clarinetist Eddie Daniels and vibraphonist Gary Burton teamed up on a tour, performing a tribute to Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton. Never mind [more]
- List Price: $12.98
- Member Price: $11.68
- List Price: $15.98
- Member Price: $14.38
- List Price: $15.98
- Member Price: $14.38
This is a clever collection of 25 tracks that either feature the word Harlem in the title (19 of them) or reference it in the lyrics. The CD includes five tracks by Duke Ellington, [more]
- List Price: $14.98
- Member Price: $13.48
Along with units led by Fletcher Henderson and Luis Russell, Chick Webb's big band of the early '30s cut some of the smartest and most galvanizing swing of the era. Webb, of course, is [more]
- List Price: $15.98
- Member Price: $14.38
- List Price: $13.99
- Member Price: $12.83
Biography
- Born Aug 31st 1907 in New York, NY
- Died Jan 16th 1973 in Englewood, NJ
However long and varied Edgar Sampson's career was, he became a jazz immortal solely on basis of the brilliant contributions he made for a few short years as a member of the Chick Webb band. Sampson songs like "Stompin' at the Savoy" and "Don't Be That Way" still evoke the cozy yet swinging ambience of the big band era like few others, and he was also responsible for "Blue Lou," "Lullaby in Rhythm," "Blue Minor," and "If Dreams Come True." Sampson started playing the violin at age six, following that up with alto sax study while in high school. He began working professionally as a teenager in a violin/piano duo with Joe Coleman in 1924, and then spent a season with Duke Ellington at the Kentucky Club in 1925. He worked his way through several bands, including those of Bingie Madison, Billy Fowler, Arthur Gibbs (at the Savoy Ballroom), Charlie Johnson, Alex Jackson, Fletcher Henderson, and Rex Stewart, until he landed a spot in the Webb band in 1933. There, Sampson made his reputation as an arranger and composer, and after he left in July 1936, he had become an in-demand freelance arranger for Benny Goodman (who made huge hits of some of his tunes), Artie Shaw, Red Norvo, Teddy Hill, Teddy Wilson, and Webb himself. After Webb's death in 1939, Sampson briefly served as musical director for Ella Fitzgerald when she took over the band. He played alto and baritone sax for Al Sears in 1943, and then led his own band in New York (1949-1951). By the late '40s, Sampson had become interested in Latin music, arranging for Marcellino Guerra, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodriguez through the '50s; later in the decade, he started leading small groups. He recorded only one album under his own name in 1956, Swing Softly, Sweet Sampson (Coral). Sampson became inactive in the late '60s when illness forced him to have a leg amputated. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide
The Source for Discounted Rare & Essential Jazz Music CDs!
©2010 Jazz Heritage Society. All Rights Reserved.
Jazz Heritage Society - 1710 Highway 35 - Oakhurst, NJ 07755