Reflections by Al Foster

“This is an album of no small wonder(s)… It’s hardly surprising the front cover photo depicts Al Foster beaming in absolute delight.”
— Doug Collette, All About Jazz

“This quintet plays together like a well-oiled machine, each musician’s mighty personality serving the music.”
— Ken Micallef, JazzTimes

“This is trans-generational post-bop, up-to-the-minute jazz at its best.”
— Jon W. Poses, Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)


#1 on JazzWeek Radio Chart (2 weeks; Sep 26 – Oct 3, 2022)

***

Approaching 80 years of age is occasion enough for anyone to take a moment and look back on a life well lived. For legendary drummer Al Foster, those eight decades have been more memorable than most, filled with exhilarating sounds and encounters with some of the music’s most iconic legends. On REFLECTIONS, Foster revisits the work of several of those peers alongside an inspiring quintet of all-stars: Nicholas Payton, Chris Potter, Kevin Hays, and Vicente Archer.

Throughout the session he propels this supremely talented unit through fresh, vital treatments of well-known and less-traveled numbers by iconic legends Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Sonny Rollins, and McCoy Tyner, all of whom regarded Foster as their first-call drummer for long portions of his celebrated career – at times competing for his services. Band members Payton, Potter, and Hays each contribute a tune apiece, while Foster penned three well-wrought songs, including two homages to Thelonious Monk that bookend the program.

It’s hard to overstate Foster’s contribution to the musical production of the aforementioned giants over his 60 years as a professional. But, as much as Foster likes to wax nostalgic about the past, it’s also evident on every note of this 68-minute gem that he’s fully committed to living in the moment and playing in the here and now. This follow-up to his well-received 2019 Smoke Sessions debut, INSPIRATIONS & DEDICATIONS, is Foster’s fifth leader recording and, as even the notoriously self-critical drummer surprisingly says, “It is my best record yet.”

Al Foster, a renowned master drummer, was a major innovator in bebop, jazz-rock, and funk for nearly 60 years. He was integral to Miles Davis’ bands in the 1970s to the ‘80s before collaborating extensively with Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, and Joe Henderson. His playing was understated and sensitive but passionate and powerful at the same time.

Facebook