Tributes
Leave a tributeOct 22nd @ Time Restaurant, 1315 Sansom St , Philadelphia, PA 19107
Lex was one of the most accessible, friendly, upbeat people I've ever known. Open-hearted and so kind, his interest in the life of the Spirit didn’t prevent his being a “regular” guy with a great sense of humor; it was such a pleasure to share some small joke and be rewarded with an appreciative chuckle from him!
I had not seen Lex for quite a while, but we would be in touch by email, text or phone -- I'll so miss his "Hey, Patricia! What's up!" -- when I needed help and would reach out to him. He was unfailingly quick to respond and so generous in sharing concrete means of attaining insight, help and healing. I have benefited from our conversations and the methods he shared as well as his personal perspective. He had told me he always knew he wanted to help people — as indeed he did! He was on an authentic quest to express Divine Love without reservation and I fully trust that he is knowing Love and Life on a much deeper level.
In any realm, earthly or spiritual, Lex remains one of my favorite people; he was so full of life and radiated such a deep and evident enjoyment of it! That depth of appreciation may have in fact truly prepared him for the next realm.
I feel in some way very connected to all those whose lives he touched; we all knew this "gem" of a man from a different facet of his radiant personality, yet we are all united by our love for him.
May God continue to bless all those who knew Lex!
Lex helped me wrap my head around how to play this crazy piece of plumbing better, as well as to exploit specialized mouthpieces. I still have some I bought from him.
It's quite the shock just now to learn of his passing; he's ten years younger than I am.
What a musician! And such an accomplished trumpet player. The loss is shared by all of us ...
Lex Samu was truly one of a kind. As all who knew him can tell you, he had a spark of charming madness about him that would make you smile with delight if you weren't already laughing with awe at what he'd just said. As a kid, he learned quickly that his zany sense of humor and excitement for life was appreciated by his classmates at school, so he purposely punched it up even further for our enjoyment, but he was wonderfully funny and sweetly effusive as an adult, too.
He introduced me to Wayne Dyer very early on after I left the monastic life at Chaminade High School, and helped me find my true calling as a spirit outside the walls of organized religion. He was extremely supportive of me in my burgeoning career as an author, and wrote me a very generous review for my first book as well.
As I mentioned, I could tell you so many fun stories, but today I'm just in shock. How could Lex be gone? How could such a bright light be taken from us so soon? But the answer comes almost immediately, and in the form of a different question. How could a personality so huge, and a soul so bright NOT be reclaimed by Heaven so soon?
Truly, Lex's soul was too huge and wonderful and wise and beautiful for this world. His soul may have simply outgrown it. That isn't a criticism toward any of his closest loved ones on Earth, but rather my feeble human understanding of the shocking truth with which we are all now living.
Lex is gone...from here. ONLY from here. Lex is not gone at all, however, from any of us. He will be with us here and there as we continue throughout our lifetimes on Earth, and then he'll be right there waiting for us with a smile and a hug when we cross over one day, too.
Thank you for everything, Lex. I'm so lucky to have known you. Until we meet again, may your Heaven be sweet and filled with music, and may all you leave behind here be a legacy to a life lived very, VERY well.
I couldn't imagine, when we exchanged the last message and i wished you a great summer, that couple of weeks after, you will leave...
Peace to you in the Light, and play with the Greats now, until we'll meet there !
Condoleances to your family.
All the very best, like you used to say my friend :)
Please pray for Lex Samu at exactly noon tomorrow (Thursday, August 23rd) as requested by his mom Noreen Heck.
Let the heavens hear this group prayer from all of us and maybe Lex will hear it too.
Thanks!
Lex Samu Memorial Album Concert
October 22nd, 2018 from 9pm til 1am, no cover
Time Restaurant, 1315 Sansom St , Philadelphia, PA 19107
Lex, Madison & Wesley Rast and myself had a band, Lex Samu and the Kraft Quartet. Of course Lex didn't really like his name up front, so we usually went by Kraft Quartet, but I would sneak his name in when ever I could. We all went to college together. It was pretty amazing to be making music with the gang from back in the day, but truth be told we all did it for the chance to hang out with Lex. Sometimes Wes and I got there early and would sit around and talk about how excited we were to see Lex.
Lex was also a part of my family. He never missed one of my kid's birthday parties, and the first time he met my wife he took us for brunch at an Outback Steakhouse in Queens. 10am on a Sunday and we ordered the largest steaks I've ever seen, Foster's oil cans, and of course a Bloomin' Onion. Classic Lex.
His energy was contagious, and his soul kind. Very soon we would exchange numbers, emails, and our conversations included personal issues. We shared the dark times we each had and helped each other heal. His words and thoughts about life I will cherish forever.
Thank you Lex- for being a source of light to all who knew you. I will miss you terribly, and deepest condolences to your family.
I got to know Lex through a high school teaching artist program by Queens College. He always showed up early for the class at 7:30am; for me it was very tough to just make it on time! He then went on to carry the class with such affection and encouragement towards the students, demonstrating improvisation by saying “there is no wrong note!”
He then introduced me to the friday gig with Rich, and we’ve been playing together almost every Friday night, for almost six years! At that time, I was just graduating from Queens College, I didn’t have money or a car, so I was killing my back carrying my keyboard and amp. Lex was so nice and generous that he picked me up and dropped me off for a long time. In his car, I asked a lot of questions about music, mainly about my fears towards professional musical life, improvisation, but also about meditation, gym, diet, cat, dumplings, korean market and so on.
When I first heared Lex play, I was shocked in every aspects; I had never heard anyone hitting such high notes and his chops would never wear out! He knew every song in every version in many different recordings. I asked him one time out of frustration that I won’t never be able to play Giant Steps. And he of course positively recommended me to practice every morning and it’ll be as comfortable as Blues! I am not sure I’ll ever get to that level but it shows that how much he practiced with such a positive view.
I finally got to go to the dumpling restaurant that he’s been talking about so I was so looking forward to tell him about it at the Friday gig.
I will terribly miss Lex, but his wisdom, his generosity and his kind spirit will stay with me, not only on Fridays, but in so many aspects of music and life that I had the privilege of discussing with Him
I had been speaking to Lex weekly checking on his Dad’s recent condition.
He was always cordial and care free. He loved his career, and was a kind and gentle soul.
I had also grown up playing the trumpet and we would always speak about Music and “horn bands” of which he had extensive knowledge.
A great musician and just a wonderful young man. He will be sorely missed by all of us.
Our Family is heart broken for Lex’s Father and Mother. Our deepest condolences at such a sorrowful time.
God neeed an Angel that was a Lead Trumpet, with Lex he now has the very Best!
He was modest and understated about his prowess on the horn and in different musical genres. And with that he was of unfailing good humor, even when we gently teased him about the tropic-print short-sleeved shirts that he wore even in the dead of winter, and the “samurai” head band (as we called it) that he wore to cool himself off as his playing grew increasingly hot.
One of the things that touched me (and the other member of the quartet) the most was his spirituality. He was focused on the important stuff, and that manifested itself in his unfailing kindness and compassion.
It was my good fortune to have known and played with him for as long as I did. Among musicians there are moments of musical intimacy that occur only in that context, and that create indelible bonds that last beyond those moments. And there were 52 Fridays a year for eight years of those moments and the bonds created by hanging together in the small booth between sets.
Between that bond, and his unfailing good humor, his great musicianship, and his professionalism...well, his passing leaves a big hole. I will miss him greatly.
We spent countless hours driving to hundreds of gigs together and whether we were listening to music or chatting we were always in tune with one another!!
I always felt that Lex lived in the abstract, The way he perceived things were truly his own just as his trumpet playing was,
I love you Lex, and I’m glad I got to tell you that.
Just found out. This sucks.
Thank you for making my life a better place. Didn't think i could miss you more than what became of us......but i do.......i still don't find this dying thing very funny......except that time we were at a cocktail hour smorgasbord and came upon the Crab Legs and you said "Crab legs are hard to eat" and the guy standing next to you had a fatal heart attack. You used to laugh when i told that story. I can hear you laugh in my broken heart.
So sorry I never got to say goodbye, Lex. I’ll miss you, my friend.
He always had some great stories about being on the road. My favorite was about one particular Big Band and just how hectic and rediculous that particular gig had been. At the end of his story I said "wow, that sounds pretty cool."
To which Lex replied "Naaaah maahn, it sucked!!"
Lex you will be missed. However, I know you're already playing duets with Gabriel.
One word seems to be in every memory I’ve read here: kindness. Lex was kind, happy and always ready to laugh or make you laugh.
A great musician and a terrific human being.
Leave a Tribute
Oct 22nd @ Time Restaurant, 1315 Sansom St , Philadelphia, PA 19107
A compilation of memories
Lex and I went through grammar school together, became friends in our middle school years and very close friends in high school (he was one of my three best friends at that time), and stayed close after, though much less so than before in college and beyond. The below are some random memories I thought you'd enjoy.
Grammar School:
In 4th grade, our teacher taught us a lifelong lesson I'll never forget, a tool many teachers all over have used in their classrooms as well. We were given a long sheet of instructions that had things like "add a circle to the bottom right corner of the sheet" and "draw four triangles along the right side of the page". It was a fascinating list of strange but easy instructions. We were all hard at work on the page, most of us halfway down the list, when Lex began furiously erasing everything on the page in a wild burst of energy that had our teacher howling with laughter. We all laughed as well, but we had no idea what the joke was. She finally told us we could stop, telling us to look at the very last instruction on the sheet and then the top again. The very last instruction, which Lex had reached before all of us, said, "Now go back and only do number one on the list, and ignore all the others", and of course at the top of the page, that none of us had read or paid much attention to, the instruction was very clear: "Read everything before doing anything". We all had a great big laugh that day, and Lex was a very special part of it!
High School:
We played hooky once--once--and because it was a very big deal for us, we were very smart about it. We planned it out precisely, even to the minute. I told Lex what time I normally got picked up for the bus, and he drove his 1977 Pontiac Bonneville, aka Bonnie, to the block my bus picked me up from. It was around 7 AM (I think the bus was due usually around 7:05) and when I arrived, he appeared to be fast asleep in his car. I knocked, and he didn't wake up. I tried again, and he jumped up in a fit (his hamming skills were on pointe). He told me he slept there that night in his car. I didn't believe him, but I learned early on that going along with these stories made it all more fun for us both.
Later that day, we were coming back from the pool hall in Baldwin we'd often frequent. We always played for a very small bet--like a dollar or a free cup of coffee. Lex loved his coffee, and would add A LOT of sugar to it. I remember this old guy who worked at the pool hall--Lester, his name was--say to him, "You want some coffee with that sugar?" and Lex howled with laughter. Getting a rise from us was fun, but getting a reaction from adults seemed to take it to another whole level in his mind. Anyway, we were coming back from the pool hall, and were quickly approaching a red light at an intersection. I could tell he didn't see it, so I said first and then yelled, "Lex, red light. Red light!!!!!!" Lex slammed hard on the brakes, and we did a complete 180 in the intersection. Breathless, he didn't wait more than a few seconds before saying, "We gotta get out of here!" and hit the gas pedal, bringing us back quickly in the direction we'd come from. I know this sounds insane now as an adult, but somehow, Lex was always in control, even in that situation. I'm not saying he planned it--he wasn't stupid!--but I will say despite his excited laughter at the whole thing, I always felt completely safe with him. And I know for sure he drove that much more carefully after that day.
I used to work at the A&P, in the fish department among other departments. Lex knew when I was working, but he wouldn't say when he would pay me a visit. All I'd hear was a whistle in the distance: the tune of "Soul Peanuts". He'd do it from a long way away, like a bird you just barely hear outside the window, but then he'd get a bit closer and do it again. I'd smile and look around, but still not see him. He'd finally do it nearby then and appear, often while flipping a coin or a bottle or his keys around his finger.
Back to the Bonneville. There was a large hole in the bottom of the car, barely hidden by a mat, and Lex referred to this massive structural flaw as the gorilla pit. He told us to throw our garbage back there on top of the mat, so that when it was time to clean the car, all he'd have to do was remove the mat and let the garbage fall out the bottom of the car onto the street. Now I promise you, I never for a minute got the impression Lex would ever do such a thing, but he sold the story convincingly, so as teenagers, it all sounded quite believable and funny. He'd also carry a small bottle of coconut spray in the car to keep the Bonnie smelling fresh, and wouldn't hesitate to use it on YOU if you were "fresh" to him. All in good fun! And most importantly, he'd always, always, ALWAYS play jazz music on the radio. We had no choice, and could listen to nothing else. My favorite song, which he'd play quite often, was Dizzy's "Land of Oo-Bla-Dee".
College
As I mentioned previously in another entry here, I was living as a monk at Chaminade High School during my college years. Very often, my friends would send me letters, but at some point, it became sadly obvious that my letters were being read before I got them. My Assistant Novice Master even read one to me in a frightening encounter one day. Once Lex heard about this, he offered to get more crafty, and on at least two occasions, he hid letters for me in nearby bushes outside the school, and informed of where to look for them and when. It sounds crazy, I know, but hey, those were crazy days, and Lex wasn't afraid to do what he had to in order for us to stay in touch and not moderate himself!
Adult Life
I think we only hung out one time after I left the monastery, as he was off on new adventures by then and away from me and our mutual friends, but it was a very, very important day for me. We had some powerful, spiritual conversations, and he was extremely kind and loving to me when I came out of the closet to him as well. We went to a bookstore, I remember, and Lex told me to get "Your Sacred Self" by an author named Wayne Dyer. He said it would open my eyes to a new way of understanding my spirituality, especially as I was feeling more and more disaffectionate with the Roman Catholic Church. Sure enough, I read and loved that book, and have since bought many more Wayne Dyer books and DVDs over the years, both for myself and as gifts for loved ones.
Lex's spiritual interests got much more "out there" for my tastes, and though we stayed in touch over the past twenty years, I never took the time to make plans with him again. I so wanted to surprise him by attending a concert or performance, but I just never did. I regret it, but it's not a regret I'll hold onto for long. I know for certain Lex is still with me, as he is with you too, and I can't wait to see what kind of adventures we all get up to together in the great hereafter. Until then, I remain tremendously grateful for the great gift of Lex Samu in my life!
The Perfect Greeting Card
At the end of my senior year, I joined the religious order that runs both Chaminade and Kellenberg High Schools on Long Island. Lex and I were very close friends, so as I was off on this great new adventure in life, he gave me a greeting card to wish me well. But a card for joining a monastery isn't really easy to find in your local Genovese Drug Store circa 1993, so what does Lex do? He buys a card that says "Enjoy Your Vacation", and he just changes the "a" to an "o", so it read "Enjoy Your Vocation". One-of-a-kind mind!
Superspies from Outer Space
Lex played on the Superspies from Outer Space record, and he helped define the sound & the feel while also playing some outrageously excellent horn on many tracks. He was fun & "groovy" and really, really just wanted to play good music.
You can hear some of Lex's horn on this little sampler video we made back in 2011. Sorry if this seems a little promotional: If anyone gets that vibe I'll just remove this immediately (assuming the system lets me).
It really, really sucks that such a great player is gone before the world found out about him.
Hey...Lex's horn starts at the 3:00 minute mark, if you want to skip the other stuff.