Frank B. Foster, III was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on September 23, 1928. He attended Wilberforce University and in 1949 moved to Detroit and began playing in jazz clubs with musicians such as Wardell Gray. He was drafted into the military in 1951 and served in Korea.
In the early 1950s his first two solo albums were released on Blue Note Records: Here Comes Frank Foster (1953) and New Faces, New Sounds (1954). He was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra from 1953-1964, contributing both arrangements and original compositions including the well-known Shiny Stockings, Down for the Count, Blues Backstage, Back to the Apple, and Discommotion, as well as arrangements for the band's Easin’ It album. Foster has also performed in bands including The Lloyd Price Big Band, Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra, Woody Herman and his Orchestra, The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, and Elvin Jones's Jazz Machine. By the 1970s Foster formed several groups on his own, including The Non-Electric Company, Living Color and The Loud Minority. In 1980, Foster's Lake Placid Suite was performed as a part of the Winter Olympic Games, and in 1983 Dizzy Gillespie personally commissioned Foster to orchestrate one of the jazz icon’s compositions, Con Alma, for a scheduled performance and recording with The London Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Robert Farnon. In 1986 Foster succeeded Thad Jones as the leader of the Count Basie Orchestra, and remained with the band until 1995. During that time he won two Grammy Awards for his arrangements of Deedles' Blues (1987) and Basie's Bag (1988).
Foster's career also included a strong interest in teaching. In 1971 he served as Artist-In-Residence for the New England Conservatory of Music. He also began teaching music for the N.Y. Public Schools in Harlem under the Title I program, Cultural Enrichment Through Music, Dance, and Song. From 1972 to 1976, Foster was an Assistant Professor in the Black Studies Program at the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY). He has also worked as an adjunct professor at institutions including The New School for Social Research and New York University. In 1987, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Central State (formerly Wilberforce) University.
During his long musical career, Foster has been commissioned to compose and arrange works for The Carnegie Hall Jazz Ensemble, The Detroit Civic Symphony Orchestra, The Jazzmobile Corporation of New York City, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, The Harpers Ferry Historical Association, The Chicago Jazz Ensemble, and many others. In 2002 Foster received the Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
In 2001 he suffered a stroke that impaired his left side and caused him to cease performing on saxophone. He continues to compose and arrange for a variety of bands and leads a revival of The Loud Minority in limited engagements.
1953
Here Comes Frank Foster (Blue Note)
1954
New Faces, New Sounds (Blue Note)
1956
Two Franks Please! (Savoy)
1956
No Count (Savoy)
1963
Basie Is Our Boss (Argo)
1965
Fearless Frank Foster (Prestige)
1969
Frank Foster (Blue Note)
1974
The Loud Minority (Mainstream)
1977
Shiny Stockings (Denon)
1979
Non-Electric Company (EPM Musique)
1982
The House That Love Built (SteepleChase)
1983
Two for the Blues (Pablo/OJC)
1984
Frankly Speaking (Concord Jazz)
1995
A Fresh Taste of Thad Jones and Frank Foster (Hanssler Classics)
1996
Leo Rising (Arabesque)
1998
Swing (live) (Challenge)
2002
Live at Feuerwache Mannheim (Bassic)
2003
We Do It Diff'rent (live) (Mapleshade)
2005
Endless Fingers (Arabesque
2007
Well Water (Piadrum)
From the guide to the Frank Foster Papers, 1930-2009 and undated, bulk 1950s-2009, (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University)
