MUSICIAN

Al Foster

1943 - 2025

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Aloysius Tyrone Foster (January 18, 1943 – May 28, 2025) was an American jazz drummer. Foster's professional career began in the mid-1960s, when he played and recorded with hard bop and swing musicians including Blue Mitchell and Illinois Jacquet. Foster played jazz fusion with Miles Davis during the 70s and was one of the few people to have contact with Davis during his retirement from 1975 to 1980. During Davis's retirement, Foster continued to play and record acoustic jazz with Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, McCoy Tyner, Horace Silver, and other band leaders. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Al Foster is the 982nd most popular musician (up from 2,111th in 2019), the 5,127th most popular biography from United States (up from 11,071st in 2019) and the 322nd most popular American Musician.

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Among MUSICIANS

Among musicians, Al Foster ranks 982 out of 3,175Before him are Ron McGovney, Selda Bağcan, Peter Winter, Fats Waller, Zoltán Kocsis, and Daevid Allen. After him are Duško Gojković, John Lewis, Rosalyn Tureck, Tuomas Holopainen, Sam Rivers, and Aphex Twin.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1943, Al Foster ranks 331Before him are Michael Byrne, Tariq Ali, František Veselý, Larry Clark, Angelo Anquilletti, and Cornelia Froboess. After him are Gisela Hahn, Masayuki Uemura, Petar Skansi, Hwang Sok-yong, Kuniwo Nakamura, and Valerie Perrine. Among people deceased in 2025, Al Foster ranks 166Before him are Roy Thomas Baker, Braulio Musso, Peter Jason, Richard Norton, Susan Brownmiller, and Bernard Lacombe. After him are L. J. Smith, Manolo el del bombo, Manoj Kumar, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Calistrat Cuțov, and Joan Harrison.

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Al Foster ranks 5,127 out of 20,380Before him are David Patrick Kelly (1951), Thomas Haden Church (1960), Tommy Gunn (1967), Joe Keery (1992), Ken Huszagh (1891), and Walton Walker (1889). After him are Jonathan Littell (1967), Renée Taylor (1933), Stephen Cook (1939), Robert McKee (1941), Alan Lomax (1915), and Grace Bumbry (1937).

Among MUSICIANS In United States

Among musicians born in United States, Al Foster ranks 322Before him are Jeff Hanneman (1964), Eric Dolphy (1928), Jerry Garcia (1942), Steve Jordan (1957), Ron McGovney (1962), and Fats Waller (1904). After him are John Lewis (1920), Rosalyn Tureck (1914), Sam Rivers (1923), Charlie Christian (1916), Al Jardine (1942), and Corey Taylor (1973).