Sample's passing last year was another sad loss, making it all the harder to listen again to his music without nostalgia. It's intriguing to re-hear his music from the late 1980s on these Warners reissues. These simple soothing sounds held much of the music world in their thrall, bringing together easy listening, gentle funk and R&B into a vibe all of their own. It's down to Sample's impeccable taste that he transcends the saccharine: the clarity with which he elicits the melody on the opening title track of Ashes To Ashes or the those so soulful, so brief right hand runs on ‘The Load Less Travelled’ somehow catch the light where others would sound bland. It helps of course to have the likes of Marcus Miller pinning it all down, against a heavenly wash of strings. OK, we're a long way from The Jazz Crusaders or indeed later European projects with the NDR. But within their own terms, these recordings are as much part of the Sample heritage as those heady days with the Crusaders.