New York, New York
May 21, 2008
FM source @320
Master percussionist Al Foster, longtime drummer for Miles Davis,
brought his own quartet to New York's legendary Village Vanguard, for a
performance broadcast live on air by WBGO and online at NPR Music.
To
start the second night of a week-long residency at the West Village
club, Foster called a mix of trusted jazz classics and savory,
groove-happy originals. The quartet opened and closed with tunes penned
by Foster's former employer Miles Davis, spinning a cymbal-happy take on
the famous "So What" and ending with an acoustic version of "Jean
Pierre," which Foster recorded with Davis live in 1981. In all, it was
an affair decidedly more hard-bop-oriented than the electric funk that
Foster created with Miles, but one no less full of subtly masterful
performances from all hands on deck.
Raised in New York, Foster
was only 19 when he made his first recording, backing trumpeter Blue
Mitchell on the classic Blue Note LP The Thing To Do. Foster soon became
a "first call" drummer for many of jazz's leading lights, playing with
musicians like Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, and Thelonious Monk.
Foster
got his biggest break while playing a date at the Cellar Club on 95th
Street in Manhattan. Miles Davis was in the crowd that night, and was
awed enough to hire him on the spot: "[Foster] knocked me out because he
had such a groove and he would just lay it right in there," Davis wrote
in his autobiography. "That was the kind of thing I was looking for. Al
could set it up for everybody else to play off and just keep the groove
going forever." Davis would count Al Foster as his drummer for 20 years
— spanning the trumpeter's wildest electric experiments — and as a
friend for life.
~Patrick Jarenwattananon
Al Foster, drums
Gary Versace, piano
Doug Weiss, bass
Eli Degibri, tenor and soprano saxophones
Set List
So What
The Chief*
Peace
Take the A Train
Cantaloupe Island
Brandyn*
Jean Pierre
*Foster's compositions
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