Jazz Reviews : Joe Sample Opts for the Unpretentious

Joe Sample makes medium art.

The pianist, who offered his amalgam of jazz, pop, R&B; and Latin influences during a stop at the Celebrity Theater in Anaheim, is like fellow keyboardist Ramsey Lewis: he plays unpretentiously, with more than a modicum of flair, dynamics and creativity, yet he never reaches for the skies of high art, where composition and improvisation can cause a listener to leave a venue a changed person.

Sample seeks to entertain, not enlighten. He’s a musician for the masses. Which is not to say he’s mediocre--far from it--and doesn’t mean he doesn’t come across with the goods. He does.

At the Celebrity, Sample, who’s known both for his work with the jazz-funking Crusaders and his solo albums like “Rainbow Seeker” and “Spellbound,” put his mark on what he played. His distinctive touch, nice bluesy feel and considerable warmth were always in evidence, as renditions of “A Desert in Monterey,” “Bones Jive,” “Ashes to Ashes,” “Georgia on My Mind” (the only non-original performed) and “Sermonized” readily proved.

Still, the salt-and-pepper goateed pianist is not a risk taker, and he wasn’t there to stretch his boundaries. His tunes, with their catchy, ear-friendly melodies, backbeat rhythmic orientation and relatively non-complex harmonic constructions, were, after a while, a little difficult to distinguish one from another and, in effect, offered limited platforms for soloing. It’s like a painter who works in only four shades of orange or blue or brown: given the commonality of your material, it’s hard to find new ways to tell your story.

Yet within his chosen frameworks, Sample did just that. He told modest tales and created a series of authentic, honest moods. With excellent back-up support from Neil Larsen (keyboards), John Pena (electric bass), Land Richards (drums) and Lennie Castro (Latin percussion), the leader explored his tunes with scalar runs, funky turns, dancing chordal ascents, high-end tinkles and low rumbling chords, keeping the feeling--if not the melody--of his chosen theme in the forefront.

Among the highlights of the close-to-two-hour show were “Sermonized,” which was reminiscent of the evocative funk that made the Crusaders so popular, and moved from a quiet, somber mood to a spirited, uplifting setting; the unaccompanied and soulful version of “Georgia”; and “Bones Jive,” which cooked from start to stop.

Sample, who appears tonight at the Raymond Theatre in Pasadena and Saturday at the Hop in Riverside, needs to open up his horizons and challenge himself a bit more. His music will only get better.