“...I’ve never seen a person who came in this strong.....Sam is an all around pro on bass, engineering anything you name... his musical intuition elevates the whole band to the next level....”

- Bobby Krier (Music Director of Citylife Church)

“...He is proficient in a multitude of styles on both the upright acoustic bass and the electric bass...”

- Lenny Wee (American Idol, Minor Productions)

“...Sam is one of my best students who still cross my mind in my teaching career for more than 20 years.....a very mature musician whose approach to music encompassed the entire picture... “

- Steve Rochinski, Professor, Berklee College of Music

Jun Chul ‘Sam’ Lee     (aka Sam JC Lee)

... is one of the most versatile and multi-talented upcoming artists in NYC and Boston area.

Sam grew up in a pastor’s family where he was exposed to music and arts. He began playing electric bass while studying electronic engineering at Hanyang University in Korea. Then he volunteered for Campus Crusade for Christ in Los Angeles, CA for few years where he met his professional musical mentors, which led him to pursue music for career.  He obtained musical training on Jazz Composition and Performance at a world class music school, Berklee College of Music where he studied with the likes of John Lockwood, Steve Rochinski, Matt Garrison, Jetro da Silva, and Greg Hopkins etc... This made his musicality grow immensely, then Sam quickly found himself in music scene in Boston.  Later he received Wayne Shorter Award, and Bass Department Achievement Award, and Berklee Achievement Scholarships for his rapid accomplishments.

After graduating Berklee as as Cum Laude, he continued his musical training at New York University (M.M.) where he worked with Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Drew Gress, and Gil Goldstein, who won multiple Grammys.   

Sam has quickly become one of the most demanded bassists in New England area because of his versatility on various styles of music such as Jazz, Funk, Gospel, R&B, and Rock. He had honors to perform with world-renown musicians such as Joe Lovano, John Scofield, George Garzone, John Blackwell, George Russell Jr., Steve Rochinski, and many others. Moreover, he appeared at historic venues such as Blue Note, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Scullers, Citi Field Stadium, Fenway Park, etc… as well as Beantown Jazz Festival, TV, radio shows, and numerous concerts.

Sam’s credential as a studio bassist has been going strong as well. To mention few, he was featured as the main bassist on: “Honeywine” by Rajdulari, Top 100 R&B download at Amazon.com, “Dancing in the Dialog” by Yuko Yamamura that won John Lennon Songwriting Contest 2012 in Jazz, “Originality” by Mina Cho, highly mentioned at Jazz Times and Downbeat Magazine. Recently his collaboration with the winner of the Voice Korea 2012, Son Seung Yeon for her single “The first Snow is Coming” created a lot of buzz in kpop music scene. And this single was featured at number of famous music TV shows from KBS, MBC, SBS. 

Moreover, Sam has been very active in Christian music scene as well. Besides appearing on many CCM albums, he performed with Tim Hughes who is one of the most famous worship leaders in 21st century. Also he has played for many national Christian conferences all over the country (CCC National conference, KCCC NY Vision Conference, Kosta USA, Kingdom Conference, etc…). Recently he served the New England Gospel Coalition Conference (2012, 2014) that featured prominent figures of Christianity (John Piper, Tim Keller, Don Carson, etc..) as the head of productions. This conference was considered one of the most historic Christian events in New England history.

Sam’s talents do not stop on playing bass. His studio engineering skills and composition skills helped more than a dozen of CD/projects as engineer/arranger.  Also he has been very active teaching music camps/clinics reaching out to local communities.

As Sam continues to be very active in New England/NYC music scene as a bassist, sound/recording engineer, and composer, he is also involved in the music ministry at Citylife Church, Boston, MA as assistant music director(Jazz)/sound engineer. 

Currently he lives in Boston with his beautiful wife Youngji, and daughter Roselynn