Wild Blue Herons: ‘It’s All About Love’

For more than a decade, Bill Sample and Darlene Cooper have been producing duo jazz with a touch of funk, soul and pop. Their ensemble Wild Blue Herons’  latest album proves that ‘It’s All About Love’.

Released on Valentine’s Day 2026, this is an existential album, no more so than on Whatcha Gonna Do With Your Life and the title track, which both feature a rich groove combined with deep, meaningful lyrics that will get you thinking about life, love and everything in between.

Sample brings classy experience on keyboard and composition, with name-dropping rights to his work with David Foster, Celine Dion, Ray Charles and Kenny Loggins. Wild Blue Herons brings the music of his long-established partnership with Cooper, a respected jazz/soul/gospel singer, arranger and educator (Eric Bibb, Dee Daniels, Marcus Mosely).

For It’s All About Love, the pair have gathered a collection of brilliant musicians to bring their compositions to life: Tim Porter (guitar); Miles Foxx Hill (bass); Randall Stoll (drums).

The horn section suffuses the album with Steve Hiliam (tenor sax) and Jim Hopson (trombone), with improvisations that add texture to the arrangements. Tom Keenlyside’s flute on Easy as Pie adds a musical balance to the horn lines below the vocals in a song that ought to be part of the jazz standards repertoire.

As well as Cooper’s strong and expressive lead vocals, there are additional vocals from Sample, Jane Mortifee and Dawn Pemberton, who also takes the lead on Whatcha Gonna Do With Your Life.

The only actual standard on this track is a gorgeous arrangement of Jimmie Davis’s You Are My Sunshine. A delightful end to It’s All About Love comes with Cooper’s solo composition Honey B, a fun track with joyful contributions on keys from (presumably) the subject of the lyrics - Sample himself. This album really is all about love.