Sam Ocampo: News

Great fun and enjoyment to work again with Abraham Laboriel. This picture was taken by Mark-Erik DiBiase after finishing the song "I Love How You Love Me"

Finishing up a session

Sam, Nino (not photographed), and Mark-Erik DiBiase attended Hal Blaine's milestone birthday party at the Baked Potato in Studio City, CA. Many recording musicians, including Leland Sklar and Chuck Berghoffer were there.

As part of putting the finishing touches on his new album Poems, Sam went back to Capitol Studios to add an exotic musical color to a song he had recorded a few months before with jazz bassist Chuck Berghofer and jazz drummer Peter Erskine. The song, Something Good from The Sound Of Music, is one of Sam's favorites. The "exotic musical color" chosen was the Argentinean bandoneón, performed by virtuoso Coco Trivisonno (pictured above). Coco also plays on Sam's fully orchestrated version of the tango Malena, to be released later in 2009, on another album entitled Romance. You can hear Coco's performances on dozens of recordings, including Luis Miguel's El Día Que Me Quieras and Roberto Carlos's Volver.

Repeatedly over the past 30 years people have said to Sam: “Why don’t you do an album of piano alone music..?” “We want to hear the piano without all that other stuff…” “Your style is unique and there’s nothing like it out there…” So, here it is… Enjoy this intimate and spiritual journey where sleeping song-beauties from a hundred years ago mingle with younger counterparts. Rediscover the simplicity and perfection of these handpicked hymns and melodies as Ronn Huff’s understated strings (on All I Ever Have To Be) and a touch of flute only-occasionally accompany the voice of the solo piano.

Florida Hospital, the largest Medicare provider in the nation, commissioned Sam to record a double CD in celebration of its 100 years of service. Sam feels honored to be a part of this special milestone. The themes for the double CD package are HEALTH (CD 1) and HEALING (CD 2). This special product was released on October 2008 and will be exclusively distributed within the Florida Hospital family.

Sam is very excited about working with legendary producer Michael Omartian, whose discography and credits are among the most prolific and successful in the industry. Michael's work includes several cuts on Amy Grant's album Heart In Motion, Christopher Cross's Sailing, Rod Stewart's Some Guys Have All The Luck, and USA for Africa's We Are The World. Michael is producing and arranging (start-to-finish) a few songs for Sam's company, Adagio Music. One of these is the 3-time-top-10 hit I Love How You Love Me, originally produced by Phil Spector for The Paris Sisters. The Omartian sound is fresh and smart, here with intense emotion and latin overtones.

Sam recorded 4 songs with jazz greats, bassist Chuck Berghofer and drummer Peter Erskine. Two of the songs will be included in the Romance album: Here's That Rainy Day, and Aint' No Sunshine.

Scott Reed recorded a vocal solo for one of the songs on Sam's upcoming album.

Sam was the guest recording artist to perform a concert at this event where 4 of his albums were released: GENTLY; THANK YOU, LORD; WE ARE THE REASON; and FRIENDS IN CONCERT. The event took place in beautiful San Antonio, TX

Several songs for Sam's new album Romance were mixed by Al Schmitt on January 25 and February 1 2008.

South American studio greats, percussionist Paulinho Da Costa and guitarist Ramón Stagnaro added their magical flavor to many of the songs to be included in Sam's upcoming album Romance. Ramón's beautiful performances are featured on both Andrea Bocelli's studio album Amore and its counterpart live concert DVD Under The Desert Sky.


Andrea Bocelli singing Cuando Me Enamoro (A Man Without Love), featuring Ramón Stagnaro on guitar.

Lee Holdridge started the Capitol Studio session conducting his and Ronn Huff's arrangements of songs to be included in Sam's new album Romance. The orchestra session concluded with Tom Scott at the baton with his arrangement of a Tango for the same album. The session was engineered by Al Schmitt.

Sam recorded a Tango with Nino Ocampo (bass), Sergio Gonzalez (drums), Coco Trivisonno (bandoneón) and Tom Scott's orchestra for the new album Romance. The session was co-produced by Joe Soldo and Sam; and engineered by Steve Genewick.

Sam, Nino and Steve Schaffer recorded a beautiful Roberto Carlos song at Capitol. The session was co-produced by Joe Soldo and Sam; and engineered by Steve Genewick.

Sam, wife Gwen, and Joe Soldo flew to Nashville where Ronn Huff conducted and recorded his exquisite arrangements of 4 songs slated for Sam's upcoming 2 albums. Sam played live with the orchestra on The Summer Knows (Theme from "The Summer Of '42").

Recorded rhythm tracks for Sam's upcoming 2 albums. The all-star musician roster playing with Sam included Michael Omartian (keyboards), Paul Leim (drums), David Hungate (bass), Brent Mason (electric guitar), and Nino Ocampo (bass). Ronn Huff sat at the booth. During the session producer/guitarrist Dann Huff walked in with Keith Urban.

With bassist Abraham Laboriel and drummer Ralph Humphrey, Sam recorded at Capitol for the first time. They did 3 rhythm tracks for two new albums. One will be called Romance and the other does not have a title yet. The session was co-produced by Joe Soldo and Sam.

With Abraham Laboriel, Tom Scott, Allen Sovory, and Nino Ocampo, this well-received event at this beautiful church/set marked Sam's return to music.