It was bound to happen, but the passing of drum titan Al Foster is nonetheless representative of the end of an era. While a highly proficient player by any metric (in spite of not being a music reader) the individuality of his sound is a source of particular inspiration for drummers and other musicians and fans alike. That is, while he certainly represents a continuation of hallowed jazz drumming traditions, he forged his own highly personal conception, at once hard-grooving and fluid. My own relationship with his work is both universal (universally beloved, classic records) and personal – in addition to comparatively obscure work (some of which I couldn’t fit into this list) he was in the drum chair my first time seeing a show in a NYC jazz club, alongside McCoy Tyner and Ron Carter at Fat Tuesday’s in 1991. He will be sorely missed.

In chronological order, here we go:

1 ) “Chick’s Tune” from The Thing to Do by Blue Mitchell (1964)

It is fascinating to hear how crisp Al’s straight-ahead playing is on his recorded debut here. At age 21 and with the hallowed context of recording for Blue Note Records at Van Gelder Studio, he swings like crazy during his brief solo (trading, technically) features and underneath Blue Mitchell and Junior Cook (foreshadowing his own work a decade later with their iconic longtime employer, Horace Silver) as well as another relative newbie at the time, pianist Chick Corea.  

2 ) “Rated X” from Get Up With It by Miles Davis (1972)

Nasty nasty nasty. I don’t know how else to characterize Al’s funk grooves as a member of Miles Davis’s electric ensembles, especially in the 1972-75 range. While I love the epically long live performances from 1975, this one gets my vote for nastiest groove, enhanced by the percussion of Mtume and Badal Roy.  

3 ) “Scandia Skies” from I Wanna Talk About You by Tete Montoliu (1980)

I knew I needed to represent Al’s work in piano trios (with apologies to Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Mal Waldron, Bruce Barth, Eric Reed, and many others) as well as his mastery of 3/4 time. This Kenny Dorham tune, recorded frequently in Europe and seldom in the U.S., provides a perfect vehicle for all of the above in the hands of Al and the European tandem of Czech bassist George Mraz and Catalonian pianist Montoliu. As would become a signature of Al’s playing, the shifts between hard-swinging and more elastic rhythmic conceptions are so flowing that they are nearly imperceptible without paying close attention.   

4 ) “Ask Me Now” from State of the Tenor by Joe Henderson (1985)

I mostly tried to spread these around chronologically, but these mid-80s tracks just demanded attention. Al’s pianoless trio recordings with Joe Henderson are all classics, and on this soulful rendition of a classic Thelonious Monk ballad he (aided and abetted by Ron Carter on bass, of course) deftly manages the tall task of making a chord-ess trio ballad sound full and lush without overplaying.

5 ) “Mr. Calypso Kuhn” from Life’s Magic by Steve Kuhn (1986)

Speaking of Ron Carter, they team up again here to propel pianist Steve Kuhn. This tune primarily features Al’s own fiery playing and while I felt a little funny choosing not to include the iconic “Fungii Mama” as example one (or Kenny Barron’s “Calypso” for that matter) then this is perhaps an even more dramatic example of his authority with that sort of groove.   

6 ) “Fi-Fi Goes to Heaven” from Fi-Fi Goes to Heaven by Joanne Brackeen (1986)

Al’s track record of amplifying the music of great pianist/composers is immense, and it was particularly hard for me to omit work by Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner, Cedar Walton. This tune is a different kind of funky, with Joanne’s off-kilter rhythms providing a high degree of challenge (one over which I’ve heard numerous great drummers stumble through the years). Al not only nails all the quirks of the tune (and provides a fire beneath the solos of Terence Blanchard, Branford Marsalis [on alto saxophone], and Joanne) but makes it feel effortless.

7 ) “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was” from Something More by Buster Williams (1989)

Al’s mastery of medium-tempo, elegant swing is something from I could have easily created an entire list. This is the original recording of Buster’s irresistible arrangement of Rodgers & Hart’s classic (which I’ve heard since played alongside numerous other great drummers including Ben Riley, Carl Allen, and Lenny White) with an all-star band featuring Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. Al prods gently throughout the performance, and his own solo is a clinic in tastiness and restraint without feeling at all confined.  

8 ) “The Chief” from Brandyn (1996)

This self-referential, Latin-inspired tune is not the first example of Al’s composing on a record (indeed we can go back 20+ years from here to hear his “Sea” as recorded with Duke Pearson’s trio) but it is a worthy centerpiece of his first album of acoustic jazz as a bandleader. He propels the youthful quartet of Chris Potter, Dave Kikoski, and his musical other half for decades, Doug Weiss with a perfectly organic balance of prodding and responding.

9 ) “Brandyn” from Oh! by Scolohofo (2002)

This snaky theme is one of numerous tunes Al wrote for his beloved family, in this case his son, and is one of two tunes he contributed to this all-star quartet album also featuring John Scofield, Joe Lovano, and Dave Holland. The swinging groove is so relaxed in his hands that one could easily miss how bright the tempo is.

10 ) “Simone’s Dance” from Inspirations and Dedications (2019)

Here is another family-inspired Foster original on an album full of them, in this instance penned for his daughter. The solos by pianist Adam Birnbaum, Jeremy Pelt, and Dayna Stephens are all potent, but what is most remarkable is the fluidity with which the groove ebbs, flows, and flat-out morphs in Al’s hands, with Weiss holding it all together alongside him.