TT 521: Al Foster (part 1)
A major loss
(Kierra Denise Foster Ba has posted about losing her father Al Foster on Facebook.)
Drummer Al Foster knew the tradition before going on to curate innovative idiosyncrasies within every detail of that tradition. He sounded magnificent at all times, and I’d even argue that the Joe Henderson with Al Foster trios in the '80s offered the greatest "straight-ahead" jazz since the music's heyday in the '60s.
I did not know Foster well, but we spoke a couple of times, and on one occasion he even explained something about his unique style. Foster was specifically inspired by Art Taylor for the tradition, and by Joe Chambers for modernism. Everyone else in his peer group was copping from the bigger names like Philly Joe, Blakey, Elvin, and Tony—so Foster looked at Art Taylor and Joe Chambers. The famous Foster “reversed hi-hat” was based on Joe Chambers’s “reversed ride cymbal.”
I asked Foster how much live playing he had done with the stern traditionalist Barry Harris. He said not much, just a couple of times uptown in Harlem, but that he played a lot of traditional language specifically for Barry on those gigs. Harris came up to him afterwards, asking for his number, saying, “I didn’t know you could play bebop!” (Harris and Foster can be heard together on the superb Dexter Gordon album Bitin’ the Apple.)
If you talked to Foster, sooner or later he would bring up Miles Davis, who he played with on and off for years. He loved Miles, and Miles loved Al, for Foster could play those Davis funk beats better than anybody. But Foster was always trying to get his boss to swing a few tunes! Apparently this was a big part of their relationship, almost like a big brother and little brother kind of thing. “C’mon, Miles, swing one. Let’s play ‘So What.’” “No. Fuck you, Al.” In the end, Miles relented and programmed a swinger for the album Amandla, “Mr. Pastorius.” Foster told me that Miles did this just for Al, as a gift. Foster was proud of the track, but he also said the trio of Jason Miles, Marcus Miller, and Foster tracked before Davis did a trumpet overdub. Still, thanks to Foster, we have one last Miles Davis swinger from after 1968. Foster sounds incredible on the track.
A great hole in the discography is the trio of Herbie Hancock, Buster Williams, and Al Foster. Fortunately there are bootlegs and quite a bit of video. But there is no authorized record of this sensational working band.
Of the many times I saw Foster play live, a night at the Village Vanguard with Jimmy Heath stands out. Foster was filling in for Tootie Heath, and he played all those complex arrangements perfectly, including a down and dirty shuffle that pushed Heath into a heavy sermon. There’s a lot of jazz out there, but Heath and Foster that night were the truth.
My first trip to the Village Vanguard as a student happened to be during the week when Blue Note was recording the Joe Henderson State of the Tenor records. I later saw Foster with Joe Lovano, with Herbie, and maybe six years ago at Smoke with Gary Bartz. I never saw him with Tommy Flanagan, but the way he could execute everything in Flanagan's book without sounding like any other drummer on that gig always fascinated me. He was one of my very favourite drummers.
On the subject of Foster trying to get Miles to swing - there is (to me) an incredibly beautiful moment in “Gondwana” from Pangaea (so the very last track before the mid 70s retirement) that has always stuck with me since I first heard it as a teenager. If you listen from around 34 minutes into the 46 minute track, Foster has set up a deep shuffle on the open hi hats and snare, then at around 34’20 Henderson begins to walk; Miles does a beautiful trumpet entry at 34’37 that seems to hark back to his earlier style; then the way that Foster breaks to the swung ride cymbal a few seconds later is one of my favourite moments in the whole Miles discography. Beautiful.