05/29/2025
Al Foster was one of the most original, imaginative, truly musical drummers to ever play the instrument. To watch him play was to witness the personification of grace, soul, command and fluidity. pure mastery of the highest order. I had the great privilege to spend quite a bit of time with him in college because he would play in Boston fairly frequently whether it was Herbie, Sonny, Joe Henderson, Tommy Flanagan, Steve Kuhn, Bobby Hutchison or McCoy. He’d generally play multi-night runs at the Regattabar, so I’d sit behind him, watching, listening and learning, typically several nights in a row. Sometimes we’d hang during the day, grab lunch and he’d tell some amazing stories about growing up in NYC and the various musicians he’d played and recorded with, particularly Miles. They were very, very close. He even kept his drums at my house one time because he was coming back a week later and didn’t see the point of schlepping them back and forth. One night I took a tom-tom out of its case and looking at it as if it were a crown jewell, thought to myself, “omg, these are AL FOSTER’s drums!!” 😀. He was kind, encouraging and always generous with his time. Thank you for everything Al. Love to you and family. Rest in peace sir. ❤️ - Hans Schuman, Founder/Exec.-Artistic Director, JazzReach
