Edgar Sampson

He composed several well-known jazz standards, including "Stompin' at the Savoy", and "Don't Be That Way".

• Name — Edgar Sampson • Birth Name — Edgar Melvin Sampson • Born — 31 October 1907 • Birthplace — New York City, New York, United States • Died — 16 January 1973 • Place of death — Englewood, New Jersey, United States • Occupation — Composer, arranger, instrumentalist • Instrument — Saxophone, violin • Years Active — 1924–1960s

Born in New York City, Sampson began his professional career in 1924 with a violin piano duo with Joe Colman. Through the rest of the 1920s and early 1930s, Sampson played with many bands, including those of Charlie "Fess" Johnson, Duke Ellington, Rex Stewart and Fletcher Henderson. In 1934, Sampson joined the Chick Webb band. It during his period with Webb that Sampson created his most enduring work as a composer, writing "Stompin' at the Savoy" and "Don't Be That Way". He left the Webb band in 1936 with a reputation as a composer and arranger that led to freelance work with Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Red Norvo, Teddy Hill, Teddy Wilson and Chick Webb. Edgar Sampson became a student of the Schillinger System in the early 1940s. He continued to play sax through the late 1940s and started his own band (1949–51). In the late 1940s through the 1950s, he worked with Latin performers such as Marcelino Guerra, Tito Rodríguez and Tito Puente as an arranger. Sampson recorded one album under his own name, Swing Softly Sweet Sampson, in 1956. Due to illness, he stopped working in the late 1960s. His daughter, Grace Sampson, studied music and co-wrote the standard "Mambo Inn" with Mario Bauzá and Bobby Woodlen.

Edgar Sampson is recorded with the occupation music arranger. Recorded with the occupation jazz musician. Classed in the genre jazz. Recorded as composer, music arranger, saxophonist, musician and violinist. Recorded at birth as Edgar Melvin Sampson.