Sam Dockery
Samuel Dockery (1929 – December 21, 2015), nicknamed Sure-Footed Sam, was a hard bop pianist and well-respected musician on the Philadelphia jazz scene since the early 1950s. Dockery was born in Camden, New Jersey. He appears on 11 recordings as the pianist for Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers and composed "Sam's Tune" which appears on their 1957 Blue Note recording Ritual.
Also recorded as Samuel Dockery
Sam Dockery
- Born
- Sam Dockery was born on 8 September 1929.
- Died
- Sam Dockery died on 23 December 2015. · Burlington City.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- musician
- Fields
- jazz
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Documentary summary
Samuel Dockery (1929 – December 21, 2015), nicknamed Sure-Footed Sam, was a hard bop pianist and well-respected musician on the Philadelphia jazz scene since the early 1950s. Dockery was born in Camden, New Jersey. He appears on 11 recordings as the pianist for Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers and composed "Sam's Tune" which appears on their 1957 Blue Note recording Ritual.
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wikidata · Q787672 · wikipedia · Sam Dockery
In this article
Identity
Identity
Sam Dockery is recorded with the occupation jazz musician. Recorded as a citizen of United States. Classed in the genre jazz.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1929
Sam Dockery was born on 8 September 1929.
2015
Sam Dockery died on 23 December 2015.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Sam Dockery died at Burlington City.
Deathplace
Burlington City.
Death place
Sam Dockery died in Burlington City.
Deathplace
Discography
In 1963 he was the pianist for Betty Carter's extended engagement at Birdland, and headed The Sam Dockery Trio in Philadelphia during the 1990s. He also taught at Philadelphia's University of the Arts. He died in a nursing home in 2015, aged 86. His brother was bassist Wayne Dockery.
With Art Blakey • Hard Bop (Columbia, 1956) • Originally (Columbia, 1956) - unreleased until 1982 • Drum Suite (Columbia, 1956) • Mirage (Savoy, 1957) • Ritual: The Modern Jazz Messengers (Pacific Jazz, 1957) • Selections from Lerner and Loewe's... (Vik, 1957) • A Night in Tunisia (Vik, 1957) • Cu-Bop (Jubilee, 1957) • Tough! (Cadet, 1957 [1966]) • Hard Drive (Bethlehem, 1957) With Clifford Brown • The Beginning and the End (Columbia, 1973) - 1956 performance recorded in Philadelphia With Butch Ballard and Dylan Taylor • Mozaic
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q787672: Sam Dockery
General reference · Wikidata
reference work
- “Sam Dockery”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.[ Allmusic Biography]. See also:"A Veteran Piano Man Just Keeps on Playing" , Philadelphia Inquirer, August 9, 1996
- 2."Samuel Dockery, 86; Philadelphia jazz pianist"
- 3.Alan Goldsher, Hard bop academy: the sidemen of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Hal Leonard Corporation, 2002, p. 91.
- 4.William R. Bauer, Open the Door: The Life and Music of Betty Carter, University of Michigan Press, 2003, p.91.
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Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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