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.
Ethan, I saw you play trio with Al Foster and Christian McBride at Zinc Bar back in maybe 2018 or 2019. Outside of all of the incredible playing of course, the thing that I remember the most is when you introduced Foster and the audience politely clapped for him, you gave the audience a funny look, and then proceeded to say something to the effect of 'holy crap folks, this is Al Foster' and everybody went crazy.
I have seen Sonny Rollins play many times. When I saw Branford Marsalis last year at Smoke I had the chance to chat with him between sets. I mentioned that I saw him play with Sonny. Before I could say another word he said, "I got my ass kicked." With Rollins the band would often recede into the background. But one night circa 1990 I saw him at Town Hall with Al Foster. Foster played loud and Sonny responded. Good Lord, what music!
1989ish, Cambridge Regattabar: Joe Henderson, Charlie Haden, Al Foster. Haden is last to the bandstand, his bass is lying there, someone says "anyone play bass"? Brent says to me: get up there, "Loose Change." I say back: first, this room is full of bassists here to see Haden, no way any of them are touching that bass. Second, no way I can execute Ron Carter licks on Charlie Haden's gut-string bass.
Most of Haden's solos that night are of his patented "drone" variety, moving around to different pedal points. At one point Al Foster follows him and plays a solo entirely on the toms, "t'dum t'dum t'dum t'dum" on one pair, then a different pairing, then a different pairing. Haden looks slightly unsure of whether this is affectionate or not, he is withholding his wide grin. Then Foster says "that's Charlie Haden!" with his high cheekbones beaming out, Haden's grin emerges, Foster shifts gears into another vocabulary and continues to solo.
Thanks for this Ethan. It’s great to hear about your time with Al. I met him a couple of times, when I was in high school. One of those times, after his gig at the Jazz Forum (maybe with George Coleman?) we gave him a lift home. He was so gracious and genuine. He told us Miles had given him one of his sketch books. I didn’t know him but have always thought of him as a kind and thoughtful person.
Interesting info about Joe Chambers and the reverse high hat. I went to so many Sonny Rollins gigs and I would look at the drum set up to see if Al was playing. RIP to one of the greats.
Random note, if I may. Adorno's utter disdain for American popular music is well known. Eric Hobsbawn called what he wrote about jazz the stupidest pages ever written. When Adorno lived in Los Angeles had he bothered to go to Central Ave. and actually heard the music he may have modified his stance. But probably not. Anyway, Schoenberg was friends with George Gershwin. They played tennis together. When Gershwin died Schoenberg was bereft and said on the radio that his death was a tragedy for American music.
Thanks for giving props to a true master. I’d love to hear an explanation of what you mean by the Foster “reversed hi-hat” and Chambers’s “reversed ride cymbal.”
The hi-hat is usually on beats 2 and 4, but Foster could splash it open on 1 and 3. It was utterly distinctive, to the point that I don't any other drummer can use it. I haven't run down a perfect track to demonstrate Chambers, but in the context this means there must have been a moment where the traditional "Spang-a-lang, spang-a-lang" ride was phrased on 1 and 3 instead of 2 and 4.
I never had the good fortune to see him live, but his 2022 Smoke Sessions release REFLECTIONS was my favorite straight-ahead LP of its year, and I frankly felt that the Fo was the most dynamic element of ScoLoHoFo.
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.
Ethan, I saw you play trio with Al Foster and Christian McBride at Zinc Bar back in maybe 2018 or 2019. Outside of all of the incredible playing of course, the thing that I remember the most is when you introduced Foster and the audience politely clapped for him, you gave the audience a funny look, and then proceeded to say something to the effect of 'holy crap folks, this is Al Foster' and everybody went crazy.
I was fortunate to see Al Foster with McCoy Tyner, Ron Carter and Sonny Rollins at the Academy of Music in Philly in the late 70’s.
I have seen Sonny Rollins play many times. When I saw Branford Marsalis last year at Smoke I had the chance to chat with him between sets. I mentioned that I saw him play with Sonny. Before I could say another word he said, "I got my ass kicked." With Rollins the band would often recede into the background. But one night circa 1990 I saw him at Town Hall with Al Foster. Foster played loud and Sonny responded. Good Lord, what music!
1989ish, Cambridge Regattabar: Joe Henderson, Charlie Haden, Al Foster. Haden is last to the bandstand, his bass is lying there, someone says "anyone play bass"? Brent says to me: get up there, "Loose Change." I say back: first, this room is full of bassists here to see Haden, no way any of them are touching that bass. Second, no way I can execute Ron Carter licks on Charlie Haden's gut-string bass.
Most of Haden's solos that night are of his patented "drone" variety, moving around to different pedal points. At one point Al Foster follows him and plays a solo entirely on the toms, "t'dum t'dum t'dum t'dum" on one pair, then a different pairing, then a different pairing. Haden looks slightly unsure of whether this is affectionate or not, he is withholding his wide grin. Then Foster says "that's Charlie Haden!" with his high cheekbones beaming out, Haden's grin emerges, Foster shifts gears into another vocabulary and continues to solo.
I remember reading an interview with Al years ago where he name checked Tony Williams and Steve Gadd as influences. Interesting.
Heard him at so many Sonny Rollins gigs.
I remember a great set at Mezzrow from 2019 with you, Al Foster and Larry Grenadier, Ethan!
Thanks for this Ethan. It’s great to hear about your time with Al. I met him a couple of times, when I was in high school. One of those times, after his gig at the Jazz Forum (maybe with George Coleman?) we gave him a lift home. He was so gracious and genuine. He told us Miles had given him one of his sketch books. I didn’t know him but have always thought of him as a kind and thoughtful person.
Marcus Miller recalling the process of recording Mr Pastorious here at 15:29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKcVYcAQDSk
Interesting info about Joe Chambers and the reverse high hat. I went to so many Sonny Rollins gigs and I would look at the drum set up to see if Al was playing. RIP to one of the greats.
Random note, if I may. Adorno's utter disdain for American popular music is well known. Eric Hobsbawn called what he wrote about jazz the stupidest pages ever written. When Adorno lived in Los Angeles had he bothered to go to Central Ave. and actually heard the music he may have modified his stance. But probably not. Anyway, Schoenberg was friends with George Gershwin. They played tennis together. When Gershwin died Schoenberg was bereft and said on the radio that his death was a tragedy for American music.
Thanks for giving props to a true master. I’d love to hear an explanation of what you mean by the Foster “reversed hi-hat” and Chambers’s “reversed ride cymbal.”
Rest in beats, Mr. Foster.
The hi-hat is usually on beats 2 and 4, but Foster could splash it open on 1 and 3. It was utterly distinctive, to the point that I don't any other drummer can use it. I haven't run down a perfect track to demonstrate Chambers, but in the context this means there must have been a moment where the traditional "Spang-a-lang, spang-a-lang" ride was phrased on 1 and 3 instead of 2 and 4.
I never had the good fortune to see him live, but his 2022 Smoke Sessions release REFLECTIONS was my favorite straight-ahead LP of its year, and I frankly felt that the Fo was the most dynamic element of ScoLoHoFo.
What sad news. I was lucky to have seen him with Sonny, with Miles, with ScoLoHoFo, and as a leader. What a drummer! And so many records... RIP.