[Dixielandjazz] Frank Foster (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot)

[Robert Ringwald]

Remembering Frank Foster
by Eric Feber
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, July 28, 2011
Chesapeake and the world lost a great musician Tuesday.
Frank Foster, a Cincinnati native, died at his Plantation Woods home of complications
from kidney failure. He was 82.
His wife of 45 years, Cecilia, said, "The world not only lost him, but I lost a brilliant,
compassionate, wonderful man.
"I have been with this man for 50 years, and I can't imagine life without him."
I first met the all-star saxophonist, composer, band leader, arranger and educator
four years ago when a member of his church, St. Paul's United Methodist, tipped off
the newspaper that a genuine jazz legend was living here.
I jumped at the chance to meet him. His accomplishments loomed large. He had won
two Grammy awards. He wrote such legendary jazz compositions as "Shiny Stockings"
and "Down for the Count." Foster swung with the Count Basie Orchestra from 1953 to
1964 and led it from 1986 to 1995. He wrote the "Lake Placid Suite" for the 1980
Winter Olympics. The National Endowment for the Arts recognized him as a Jazz Master
in 2002. During a career that started when he was a teenager, Foster worked or rubbed
shoulders with Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Jimmy Smith, Tito Puente, Elvin Jones,
Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane.
When a family member invited me in his Greenbrier townhouse on a spring morning in
2007, Foster was caught off guard and yelled down from his bedroom that he had to
change. He told me to make myself at home.
I spent that 15 minutes marveling at the framed posters, playbills, photos, portrait
paintings and record covers lining one wall. There were dozens of awards and honorary
degrees from cities and colleges across the nation. There were framed photos of Foster
with Bill Cosby, Lena Horne, Quincy Jones and George Benson.
A small shelf held his two Grammys: a 1987 "Best Instrumental Arrangement" award
for "Deedle's Blues," and a 1990 "Best Jazz Instrumental Performance: Big Band" award
for his conducting work on "Basie's Bag." Another shelf held his gold medals from
the NEA and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
He saw me looking at the display with amazement and chuckled. "Years of misconduct
are on those walls," he said.
A 2001 stroke ended his saxophone-playing days; his left arm remained paralyzed.
He said it allowed him to concentrate on his love of composing and arranging.
Besides, he said, the stroke prevented him from going on the road. He didn't miss
it.
"I do miss playing, but I'm not brokenhearted about it," he said. "I'm working every
day. I don't want to end up with old-timer's disease. In fact, lately I've discovered
I love writing and arranging as much as playing."
He led me to his second floor "office." A small electronic keyboard stood in the
corner and sheet music covered every inch of floor.
Yet Foster never realized the full financial benefits of the works he composed, including
jazz standards like "Shiny Stockings." After the stroke, he and Cecilia lived on
a pension, Social Security benefits, and a small income from earlier compositions
and earnings as an arranger.
He received only residuals from the hundreds of recordings of his works because of
a "poorly negotiated contract" with a music publishing company. Last year, lawyers
at the Rutgers School of Law-Newark Community Law Clinic helped Foster regain the
rights to "Shiny Stockings" and other tunes.
NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman called Foster "an extraordinary saxophonist, composer,
arranger, bandleader, and educator."
Foster spread his skills to others. Before moving to Chesapeake in 1999, he served
as a music consultant for New York City Public Schools and taught at Queens College
and the State University of New York at Buffalo. Locally, he worked with the brass
band at his church and helped arrange music for their services and concerts.
In that 2007 interview, Foster said he was most proud of the release of "Well Water,"
a "lost" 1977 recording by his Loud Minority Big Band on the Piadrum label. The material,
which came from two six-hour sessions at New York City's RCA Studios, was remastered
and released in March 2007.
That band had a special place in his heart, he said.
"It was during the '70s when the 'silent majority' was making itself known," he said.
"Now, I'm not a strong militant, but I hate racism, so we called our big band in
answer to the silent majority. We were the Loud Minority."
Every time a recording is played of Basie's band in full swing or "Well Water's"
forceful brass punch, Frank Foster's still around, blowing a loud, joyful noise.
__________
A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Paul's United Methodist Church,
437 Providence Road, Chesapeake.


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
530/ 642-9551 Office
916/ 806-9551 Cell
Amateur (Ham) Radio K6YBV

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