Frank Foster
tenor saxophone, arranger
Tenor saxophonist and arranger who came to Detroit after college in Ohio and later wrote for Count Basie; Barry calls him the first person to influence the young Detroit players, and says he learned more from him than from anybody.
- mentions
- 4
- recordings
- 4
- Barry speaking
- 3
What Barry says
Asked for an overview of the Detroit scene, Barry says they learned from good older musicians, among them Cokie, Warren Hickey, Billy Mitchell, Thad Jones and Frank Foster, and that he learned more from Foster than from anybody.
He calls Foster’s arrival one of the best things that happened to the Detroit musicians: Pepper Adams, Bess Bonnier, Barry and the rest all learned a great deal from him, because he was a strong player who knew a lot.
Though he calls himself the oldest teacher, Barry admits that the first person to influence them in Detroit was Foster, who came there after graduating, he thinks, from Wilberforce in Ohio, and turned them all on. In another interview, when Panken raises Wilberforce while they discuss Ohio arrangers, Barry says he thinks Foster went there.
Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶263Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶427Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶428
Before Foster went into the Army, around 1950, Barry asked him to write out a sheet on arranging for a band. The sheet gave voicing information: how to voice for four trumpets, a big band or a small group. Barry still has it, would never part with it, and says most of his arranging comes from it.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶250Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶381Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶383
Foster was among the musicians who came to Barry’s house in Detroit, from Ohio and elsewhere, because they all knew he would be at the piano.
Ep.3 | Everything no one has ever told you about jazz | Barry Harris0:331:08
Calling New York a finishing school, where players like Coleman Hawkins would go after any new tenor player in town and tear him up, Barry seems to give Foster and Billy Mitchell as examples; the captions are garbled here.
On Coleman Hawkins0:00
Remembering Gene Ammons playing from the back of a Detroit club, Barry recalls Foster, and perhaps Billy Mitchell, at the microphone.
On Detroit TV in 1981 Barry recalls that the city’s music society, which gave concerts every week, also staged a play at the Music Hall, and that Foster wrote all the music for it.
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future37:29
In his own words
Thad Jones was around there. Frank Foster was there. I learned more from Frank Foster than anybody.
one of the best things that happened to us in Detroit was that Frank Foster came to Detroit.
I have to admit that the first person to influence us in Detroit was Frank Foster.
And so, from that sheet that helped me tremendously. Most of the stuff that I try to do comes from that sheet.
Frank Foster came to my house, so they all knew where to find me. So they came from Ohio.
Every mention
4 moments in the recordings, 3 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Ep.3 | Everything no one has ever told you about jazz | Barry Harris
- 1:08
Foster was among the musicians who came to Barry’s Detroit house; they all knew where to find him.
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future
- 37:29
On 1981 Detroit TV: Foster wrote all the music for a play the Detroit music society staged.
On Coleman Hawkins
- 0:00
New York as finishing school, where new tenor players got torn up; seems to cite Foster and Billy Mitchell. Garbled.
Justin Robinson Interview: Barry Harris Masterclasses, Roy Hargrove, Jiu-Jitsu & Music, & More
- 7:41
A student
Justin Robinson recalls lessons at Foster’s house, its living room stacked with hundreds of scores.
In the interviews and notes
Barry says the Detroit players learned from good older musicians, Foster among them, and that he learned more from Foster than from anybody; he still keeps the sheet on arranging Foster wrote him before going into the Army.
Foster’s coming to Detroit was one of the best things that happened to the city’s musicians; Pepper Adams, Bess Bonnier and Barry all learned a lot from him.
Talking about the group record dates where he got the chance to arrange, Barry says he was still young at arranging, and that the sheet Foster left him when he went into the Army, he thinks in 1950, helped him tremendously. It was mostly about voicing for trumpets, big band and small group.
Barry considers himself the oldest teacher, but admits the first person to influence the Detroit players was Foster, who came to Detroit after graduating, he thinks, from Wilberforce in Ohio.
When Panken suggests a Wilberforce College influence on arrangers from Ohio, Barry says he thinks Foster went there. He hears those Ohio arrangers as sharing a special, similar way of writing, with Tadd Dameron as its height.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶426Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶427Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶428
Recalling how Gene Ammons would play from the back of a Detroit club, Barry places Foster and perhaps Billy Mitchell at the microphone.
Flanagan names Foster among the musicians who led bands at the Bluebird, and says Foster was there for a long period.
Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶12Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶44
Stryker notes that around 1950 Foster, later a prolific arranger for Count Basie, handed Barry a page of orchestration advice, which Barry had kept ever since.
Panken lists Foster among the saxophonists of Barry’s Detroit peer group, and in the WKCR interview names him among the contemporaries who came to Detroit and later to New York.
Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶5Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶66
De Lima lists Foster among the good musicians who taught Barry in Detroit, and among the local figures behind the Detroit sound that shaped his teaching.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶687Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶1345
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.