George "Pops" Foster (May 18, 1892 - Oct 30, 1969)
string bass, brass bass
As promised last week, today I present you with one of the two biggest musical influences in my present course of study in music and in life.
The quick bio:
George "Pops" Foster was born on McCall Plantation in McCall, Louisiana. He moved to New Orleans at the age of nine where his brother, Willie, taught him to play on a homemade bass with three strings (contrary to popular belief, he did not learn to play on a cello - he played cello later in his uncle's band taking Willie's place.)
The first regular gig Pops had began in 1906 with his brother's band, The Rozelle Band. From there, he went on to play with the Magnolia, Tuxedo, Robichaux. Dusen's Eagle, Armand Piron, Keppard and Kid Ory bands in New Orleans.
In 1917, he got on the riverboat with Fate Marable's band.
Pops began playing brass bass in 1921 as bands got bigger and the string bass wasn't enough to hold it down.
1924 led to the first recordings of Pops Foster with Charlie Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs. (Phonograph recordings for Okeh).
Foster headed back in New Orleans and then to LA and St. Louis for a while then moved to New York in 1929 where he joined the Luis Russell Orchestra. With the Luis Russell Orchestra and his strong, rhythmic drive, Pops cemented (some say popularized - I say reestablished) the string bass's role in jazz bands.
From New York in 1929 and forward, Pops Foster became one of the most prominent, in-demand jazz bassists and found himself working with many of the greatest jazz musicianers - most notably: Sidney Bechet! Of course, the Luis Russell Orchestra eventually became Louis Armstrong's backing band from 1935 through 1940 when Joe Glaser.
... so much for the quick bio ... my apologies, this has gotten out of hand --- even quicker:
Foster's prominence allowed him to play all over the place with just everyone of note in the early jazz and swing music worlds. He landed in San Francisco in the mid-1950's where he was based until his death in 1969.
He later went on (posthumously) to greatly inspire and influence one string bassist from Norristown, Pennsylvania who happens to be the author of this ridiculous gibberish.
If you have any interest in the longer version of the above biographical information, please begin your research with Pops Foster's autobiography:
The Autobiography of Pops Foster: New Orleans Jazzman
http://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Pops-Foster-Orleans-Jazz/dp/0879308311
This biography not only contains Foster's own account of his life, told with a poetic, working class, "it is what it is" beauty, but a very important look into the beginnings and the early evolutions of jazz in America.
This book, as well as Sidney Bechet's autobiography, (which we talked about last week!) are truly great starts to a fundamental understanding of jazz and its formative years.
Just like Bechet's autobiography, when I finished this book, I knew that I'd been traveling on the right path. I've read the book a number of times since and, each time, I feel the same.
Pops Foster's playing speaks (has always spoken) to me in a majestic and regal way. I'm not sure if it's because I am a bassist (either by birth or by choice) or because he is just that impressive but Foster's playing is usually the first thing I hear on recordings that feature his talents. (Unless it's a Bechet recording, then my brain convulses until it decides on which of the two most important current musical influences and inspirations to focus.)
His great ability to clearly state the exact location of beats one, two, three and four (if I may paraphrase the great words of a great human and great friend, JD Pendley) is surpassed by NONE.
His solos are also mighty examples of what a bassist should be doing - laying it down and holding it together; quarter solos just because that's what the bass does - nothing fancy, no frills; just solid power and skill.
His bass-lines are melodic! It seems to me that Pops Foster was more interested in ensemble playing then just illustrating or arpeggiating the chord structure. He would pedal across four or six bars if he felt it was appropriate, he didn't always hit the root on the strong beat; he was improvising and participating in the polyphonic aspects of early jazz just as much as the front line players.
“Hell, I just play any old go-to-hell note, as long as it swings!" ~ Pops Foster, circa 1946 - 47
And, that's what I've learned from Pops - I don't put too much book-reading into my bass playing. Before the song starts (whether it's in a rehearsal, private practice and study or some crazy band leader throwing a brand new tune at me thirty seconds before I'm supposed to play it in front of an audience), I make some attempt to learn the chord structure of the song. I can tell you how to build chords just as well as any other educated musicianer. When the tune gets going, though, thinking about it sure isn't playing it - feeling it is playing it, and sometimes, roots just don't feel like they're the best note choices! Sometimes, pedaling a common tone for four bars is where the music wants to be so that's where Pops Foster tells me to put it!
My humble apologies for repeating myself but ... Pops Foster WAS music. Hell, he IS music!
Thank you for everything and Happy Birthday, Pops Foster!
some links:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/foster
http://www.answers.com/topic/pops-foster?cat=entertainment
There is a documentary titled "Alma's Jazz Marriage" that presents early jazz history through Alma Foster's (Pops Foster's wife) experience. I have not yet seen it as our local PBS channel only plays it when I can't get to a TV that receives their signal.
If you happen to have a copy of this video, I'd love to see it!
http://www.aptonline.org/catalog.nsf/LengthLookup/39643E6B20F8AD9B85256F3C00706CEA
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"Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose—and you allow him to make war at pleasure."
~Abraham Lincoln
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