Latest news with #AlFoster
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Al Foster, jazz drummer for Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins, dies at 82
Al Foster, the jazz drummer who performed in groundbreaking bands with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Sonny Rollins, has died. He was 82. Foster's partner Bonnie Rose Steinberg told NPR in a statement that Foster died 'from a serious illness' at his home in New York City. Foster's daughter, Kierra Foster-Ba, confirmed the death in an Instagram post. Foster's relentlessly creative and adaptable percussion work spanned eras and genres within jazz, driving elegant bepop and raucous fusion groups alike. Davis wrote in his memoir 'Miles: The Autobiography' that Foster's drumming 'knocked me out because he had such a groove and he would just lay it right in there ... Al could set s— up for everybody else to play off and then he could keep the groove going forever … for what I wanted in a drummer, Al Foster had it all.' Foster played on Davis' studio album 'Big Fun' and his live albums 'Dark Magus' and 'Agharta.' Davis, in turn, paid homage to Foster's agile brilliance with the funk single 'Mr. Foster,' recorded during his sessions for the 1972 album 'On the Corner.' Aloysius Tyrone Foster was born in 1943 in Richmond, Va., but grew up in Harlem in a family of musicians. First inspired by drummer Max Roach, his career brought him into stages and studios with saxophonists Sonny Rollins (a fruitful partnership that would span decades) and Joe Henderson, who led Foster on the seminal double live album 'The State of the Tenor, Vols. 1 & 2.' Rollins said he drew on his and Foster's similar childhoods for his song 'Harlem Boys.' Foster played in groups with jazz titans like Art Pepper, McCoy Tyner and Horace Silver, among many others. In 1978, he joined the supergroup Milestones Jazzstars with Tyner, Rollins and Ron Carter, and made his debut as a bandleader that same year with 'Mixed Roots.' Later in his career, he collaborated with guitarist John Scofield, saxophonist Joe Lovano and bassist Dave Holland in the group ScoLoHoFo. He frequented the Upper West Side club Smoke, whose in-house label released his two final albums, including 2022's 'Reflections.' Foster is survived by four daughters — Michelle, Kierra, Monique and Simone — and six grandchildren. His son Brandyn died in 2018.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Al Foster, Virtuoso Jazz Drummer to Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, Dies at 82
Al Foster, 1988 () Al Foster, the jazz drummer who played in bands led by Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, among others, has died. Foster's daughter Kierra Foster-Ba shared the news on Instagram and his longtime partner, Bonnie Rose Steinberg, told NPR that he died 'from a serious illness.' He was 82. Born in 1943 in Richmond, Virginia, Aloysius Tyrone Foster grew up in Harlem, the second oldest of five siblings. His first musical idol was bebop drummer Max Roach, whose 1955 recording of 'Cherokee' inspired a 12-year-old Foster to begin practicing every day on the drum kit his father had previously gifted him. The budding musician got his first experience working as a studio musician on Blue Mitchell's 1964 album The Thing to Do, which also featured a young Chick Corea. Foster's big break, however, arrived a few years later, when Miles Davis saw him perform at a jazz club on New York's Upper West Side and recruited the drummer to join his band. Foster toured with Davis until the latter's temporary retirement in 1975, and his work can be heard on live albums such as In Concert, Agharta, and Dark Magus. He also played on the Davis several studio LPs On the Corner and Big Fun (1974). The extended jazz-funk jam 'Mr. Foster,' recorded during the On the Corner sessions, was named in his honor. Saxophonist Sonny Rollins had previously fired Foster from his band after their first gig together in 1968, but would bring him on tour in Europe a decade later, and even claimed that 'Harlem Boys,' from his 1979 album Don't Ask, was inspired by the two musicians' similar upbringings. Throughout the late '70s and '80s, Foster also backed up pianists Hancock, McCoy Tyner, and Horace Silver. In 1978, he became one of four members in the Milestones Jazzstars—a label-made supergroup that also featured Rollins, Tyner, and bassist Ron Carter—and in 1985, both he and Carter lent their talents to saxophone virtuoso Joe Henderson's The State of the Tenor, Vols. 1 & 2. Foster continued composing and performing until just months before his death, holding a longstanding residency at the Upper West Side club Smoke and sharing his last album, Reflections, in 2022. In 1989's Miles: The Autobiography, co-written with Quincy Troupe, Davis wrote that 'Al could set shit up for everybody else to play off and then he could keep the groove going forever…for what I wanted in a drummer, Al Foster had it all.' Originally Appeared on Pitchfork
New York Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Al Foster, Master of the Jazz Drums, Is Dead at 82
Al Foster, a drummer who worked with some of the most illustrious names in jazz across a career spanning more than six decades, leaving his distinctive stamp on important recordings by Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson and many others, died on Wednesday at his apartment in Manhattan. He was 82. His daughter Kierra Foster-Ba announced the death on social media but did not specify a cause. Mr. Foster came up emulating great bebop percussionists like Max Roach, but his most high-profile early gig came with Mr. Davis, who hired him in 1972, when he was refining an aggressive, funk-informed sound. Mr. Foster's springy backbeats firmly anchored the band's sprawling psychedelic jams. In 'Miles: The Autobiography,' written with Quincy Troupe and published in 1989, Mr. Davis praised Mr. Foster's ability to 'keep the groove going forever.' Mr. Foster also excelled in a more conventional jazz mode, lending an alert, conversational swing to bands led by the saxophonists Mr. Henderson and Mr. Rollins and the pianists Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Tommy Flanagan. 'What he was doing was reminiscent of some of the great drummers of our period,' Mr. Rollins said of Mr. Foster in a phone interview, citing foundational figures like Art Blakey and Max Roach. 'He always had that feeling about him, those great feelings of those people. And that's why I could never be disappointed playing with Al Foster. He was always playing something which I related to.' Mr. Foster often framed his long career as a fulfillment of his early ambitions. 'I've been so blessed because I've played with everybody I fell in love with when I was a young teenager,' he told the website of Jazz Forum, a club in Tarrytown, N.Y. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
