| "I replaced Jack de Johnette on
the drums with Al Foster who I first heard at the Cellar club on 95th street in
Manhattan. He knocked me out 'cause he had such a groove, and he would just lay
it right in there. That was the kind of thing I was looking for. Al could set
it up for everybody else to play off and keep the groove going forever, for what
I wanted in a drummer - Al Foster had it all." (Miles Davis, 1989 in his
autobiography "Miles")
What else can
be said. Al Foster was born in Richmond, Virginia on January 18, 1944. Growing
up in New York he began playing drums as an autodidact at the age of thirteen.
During his long career he has played with such outstanding artists as Cannonball
Adderley, Thelonious Monk, Freddie Hubbard, Blue Mitchell, Sonny Rollins and Herbie
Hancock - just to mention a few, and was member of the Miles Davis Group for thirteen
years. Al Foster, master drummer, has been a major innovator in the world
of jazz for several decades. As a member of the Miles Davis band for thirteen
years, Foster's contribution to Davis' music is articulated by Davis himself in
his 1989 autobiography, Miles: The Autobiography, where Davis describes the first
time he heard Foster play live in 1972 at the Cellar Club on 95th Street in Manhattan.
Other artists Foster has performed and recorded with include Joe Henderson, Freddie
Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, John Scofield, Pat Metheny,
Charlie Haden, Randy & Michael Brecker, Bill Evans (the pianoplayer), George
Benson, Kenny Drew, Carmen McRae, Stan Getz, Toots Thielemans, Dexter Gordon and
Chick Corea. Over the years, Foster has toured extensively with Herbie Hancock,
Sonny Rollins, and Joe Henderson, becoming a major attraction in all three bands
as well as an integral part of them. Respected and admired for his keen sensitivity,
Foster is known for his unique ability to listen to and play off others in an
almost telepathic way, responding to them with a style that is at once both charismatic
and understated. Foster, is a great believer in the purity of the music, a genuine
artist who continues to push the boundaries of creativity again and again, devoted
to preserving and perpetuating the highest standards in jazz today. He is a magnificent
all-round drummer, and his rhythmic chops are renowned in musical styles ranging
from bebop to free form to jazz/rock. Recently he has recorded and toured with
his own band. | |
| Thomas was born on September 18th, 1965
in Bergerac (France).
He studied guitar and piano with Tony and Michel Petrucciani,
and opted for the acoustic bass in 1988.
He performed in France with Chet
Baker, Jonnie Griffin and Steve Grossman.
From 1992 to 1995, he was a member
of the La Villa Jazz Club house band in Paris. There he played with Clifford Jordan,
Tommy Flanagan, John Scoffield, Joshua Redman and David Sanchez among others.
Thomas moved to New York in 1997, and became a permanent member of the Dee
Dee Bridgewater Band (" Live at Yoshi's " Verve; Grammy nominee in 2001).
He is currently playing with Simon Shaheen, Qantara, and Jean-Michel Pilc
(" Live at Iridium " Dreyfus). | |
| Eli Degibri (tenor saxophone, Israel)
was a member of legendary piano player Herbie Hancock's group for two years, including
a world tour, an album and a DVD available worldwide. He is currently a mainstay
with the Charles Mingus Big Band as well as a member of Al Foster's group. Eli's
huge sound is second to none and his solos take a listener on a journey; sometimes
a slow dirge cruise, sometimes a super-sonic joy ride. | |
| Aaron Goldberg is a young pianist and
composer working at the forefront of jazz music. His latest project as a leader
is entitled "Worlds", fresh from the studio and featuring his longstanding
trio with special guests including guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, vocalist Luciana
Souza, and saxophonist Miguel Zenon. Aaron hopes to release Worlds later this
year. The music reveals diverse new influences and builds upon "Unfolding"(J
Curve Records) a trio album centered around original compositions and featuring
the stellar rhythm section of bandmates Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland. "Turning
Point" (J Curve) marked Aaron's studio debut as a leader and was focused
on larger ensembles: among others, saxophonists Mark Turner and Joshua Redman
and vocalist Carla Cook were featured.
Aaron also makes up one-third of the
cooperative group OAM Trio, which includes Israeli bassist Omer Avital and Catalan
multi-percussionist Marc Miralta. OAM, recently showcased on National Public Radio's
JazzSet, has released two albums entitled "Flow" and "Trilingual"
on the Fresh Sound/New Talent label. They recently collaborated with Mark Turner
on an album entitled "Live in Sevilla" released on LOLA Records in 2003.
Currently the musical director of 'All Souls at Sundown,'; a unique jazz and poetry
performance series jointly organized by All Souls Church and Jazz at Lincoln Center
in New York City, Aaron is showcased each month along with a potpourri of the
best of the jazz world's up-and-coming new talent. As a bandleader he currently
performs with his trio and has been experimenting with an 'e-quartet'; featuring
young saxophonist Eli Degibri. As a sideman Aaron is perhaps best known for his
work with the quartet of tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman, with whom he toured
for three and a half years and recorded two albums for Warner Bros. Currently
Aaron can be heard worldwide with such artists as trumpeters Nicholas Payton,
Tom Harrell, and Freddie Hubbard, master drummer Al Foster, guitarists Peter Bernstein
and Kurt Rosenwinkel, vibraphonist Stefon Harris, and saxophonists Mark Turner
and John Ellis among others. In years past Goldberg has worked alongside further
notables, including the late great vocalist and first lady of jazz Betty Carter,
trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, saxophonists Michael Brecker, George Coleman, Jerry
Bergonzi, Bill Pierce and Jimmy Greene as well as drummer Lenny White, bassist
Buster Williams, vibraphonist Terry Gibbs and composers Guillermo Klein and Magali
Souriau. Aaron's path onto the New York scene had several twists. Born in Boston,
Massachusetts on April 30, 1974, he began to study the piano at age seven. He
discovered his love for jazz in high school at Milton Academy under the tutelage
of bassist Bob Sinicrope. He later continued his studies with Jerry Bergonzi,
and while still a teenager received student music awards from the Berklee School
of Music and Downbeat Magazine. At seventeen he left Boston for a year of further
training at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City in
1991. The rich atmosphere of the West Village in those years included such forgotten
but seminal venues as Bradley's, The Village Gate, Augie's and Fat Tuesdays-the
Smalls was yet to be born--and the jazz scene was in the midst of a resurgence.
After returning to his hometown from this invaluable year, Aaron entered the Boston
jazz community in the summer of '92 and soon began his first year at Harvard College.
Subsequently he was awarded one of five Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowships for
1993 by the International Association of Jazz Educators, and was named the winner
of the 1993 National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Recognition and Talent
Search. While attending Harvard he developed fruitful musical associations with
peers at Berklee and the New England Conservatory. Spending summers in New York
City helped to maintain his ties with his former collaborators, many of whom were
already making a mark. Aaron graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in
June, 1996, with a degree in History and Science. During this period he enjoyed
a long stint as the house pianist at Boston's historic Wally's Café, before
relocating to his current residence in Brooklyn in late 1996 and rejoining the
NY scene. | |
