Big Sam (musician)

Big Sam
Big Sam
	Big Sam Williams, Jeff Albert, Steve Turre, and Kirk Joseph
Background information
Origin	New Orleans
Genres	funk, jazz, rock
Instrument	trombone
Years active	2001-present
Labels	Hypersoul Records
Website	Big Sam's Funky Nation

Big Sam is a trombonist and band leader from New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been a member of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and currently leads Big Sam's Funky Nation. In youth he studied with educator and saxophonist Kidd Jordan and at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). In his teens, Big Sam was a founding member of the Stooges Brass Band, and later joined the Dirty Dozen, allowing him to meet and play with other touring bands and musicians such as Karl Denson, Dave Matthews, Widespread Panic and James Brown. After one year with the Dirty Dozen Sam began a side project broadening his musical ambitions. In 2006, he played with Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint on their grammy-nominated "the River in Reverse" album and subsequent international tour. Over the years, Big Sam's Funky Nation would become his main band, touring both nationally, internationally, and at major festivals such as Bonnaroo, Gathering of the Vibes, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Voodoo Music Experience, South By Southwest, Austin City Limits, and others. Big Sam's Funky Nation is primarily a funk and rock that can also have elements of traditional jazz, contemporary jazz, acid jazz, dance, hard rock and even punk.

Big Sam had a recurring role in the HBO Original Series, Treme. The series followed residents of New Orleans, including musicians, chefs, Mardi Gras Indians and ordinary New Orleanians as they tried to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricane Katrina.

Sam learned only in adulthood that he is the great-grandson of Buddy Bolden, the famed New Orleans cornetist.

Awards

2003 OffBeat Awards Best Emerging Band
2005 Big Easy Award Best Funk Band
2006 Offbeat Awards Best Funk/R&B Band
2009 Big Easy Music Award: Best Funk Band of 2008
June 2009 Where Y’at Magazine’s “Best of the Big Easy’s Reader’s Pick: Best R&B Band”
2009 Louisiana Division of the Arts Fellowship
2009 Jam Cruise Golden Mic Award
2011 Jam Cruise 9 Golden Mic Award
2012 Jam Cruise 10 Golden Mic Award
2014 Big Easy Awards Best Rock Album
2016 Where Y'at Magazine Best New Orleans Band

Selected discography

Feet on the Floor - Big Sam's Funky Nation (2015)
Evolution - Big Sam's Funky Nation (2014)

Funky Donkey (EP) - Big Sam's Funky Nation (2012)
King of the Party" - Big Sam's Funky Nation (HyperSoul Records, 2010)
Peace Love & Understanding - Big Sam's Funky Nation (2008)
Take Me Back - Big Sam's Funky Nation (2006)
Birth of a Nation - Big Sam's Funky Nation (2003)

References

External links

Big Sam's Funky Nation - official site
Big Sam's Funky Nation - MySpace