E.m.foster

Internationally known harmonica player and vocalist WILLIE J. FOSTER (1921.09.19/Leland, MS – 2001.05.20/Jackson, TN) played with blues greats Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, and others during the 1950s and early 1960s. Despite health problems later in his life, he toured often and performed in many countries. Foster always returned to his roots in Mississippi’s Delta region, though, where he was known as the “Godfather of the Blues.”…….

Sidney Foster, 1917-1977, was undoubtedly one of the greatest pianists of his time, but he is all but unknown today, and made almost no commercial recordings. In 1993, the International Piano Archives at the University of Maryland issued a two-CD set of Foster performances taken from live concerts. This year Marston is celebrating Foster’s centenary by issuing a seven-CD set of solo and concerto performances from live concerts, never before issued. Foster’s breath-taking virtuosity, the volcanic intensity he was capable of unleashing, and his beautiful sound, are immediately apparent, but it is his gift of supreme music-making that places him solidly in the top rank of twentieth century pianists.

The early '70s were rife with political and racial conflicts, indicative of the pressures surrounding the scandal of Watergate and Richard Nixon, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the painful continuation of the Vietnam War. As explosive as the times were, Frank Foster's The Loud Minority reflected all of those mounting tensions while remaining hopeful in a self-determining way that gave rise to the "I'm Black and I'm Proud" sentiment. Foster assembled a giant of a big band featuring dual instrumentation all around, including keyboards, basses, and drummers to power a horn section chock-full of the best mainstream jazz and progressive players of the day.

Sixteen-time GRAMMY® award-winning songwriter and one of the most successful producers in history, musical icon David Foster performs songs from his unparalleled catalog along with friends such as Katharine McPhee, Pia Toscano, Loren Allred and more. Revisit hits like "The Power of Love", "The Prayer," songs from The Bodyguard and so many more.

In Frank’s words, "This is something quite different… I’m not trying to revolutionize the big band, I’m just telling it the way I hear it with thirteen horns and a rhythm section." After leading the Basie band for a decade, in ’95 Foster put down the baton to form his band—the Loud Minority. I jumped at the chance to record their week residency at NY’s Jazz Standard. The band was on a roll, playing high-energy, devil-may-care jazz. The crowd loved their blazing brass, their stomping solos, the powerful baritone vocals, the peerless Foster arrangements. My mikes captured the electric excitement of Jon Faddis’ trumpet solos, Basie-singer Dennis Rowland’s rabble-rousing "Wild Women Don’t Worry", and Sylvia Cuenca’s thunderous drum solo on "Lover".