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“This is an album of no small wonder(s)… It’s hardly surprising the front cover photo depicts Al Foster beaming in absolute delight.”
— Doug Collette, All About Jazz
“This quintet plays together like a well-oiled machine, each musician’s mighty personality serving the music.”
— Ken Micallef, JazzTimes
“This is trans-generational post-bop, up-to-the-minute jazz at its best.”
— Jon W. Poses, Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)
#1 on JazzWeek Radio Chart (2 weeks; Sep 26 – Oct 3, 2022)
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Approaching 80 years of age is occasion enough for anyone to take a moment and look back on a life well lived. For legendary drummer Al Foster, those eight decades have been more memorable than most, filled with exhilarating sounds and encounters with some of the music’s most iconic legends. On REFLECTIONS, Foster revisits the work of several of those peers alongside an inspiring quintet of all-stars: Nicholas Payton, Chris Potter, Kevin Hays, and Vicente Archer.
Throughout the session, he propels this supremely talented unit through fresh, vital treatments of well-known and less-traveled numbers by iconic legends Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Sonny Rollins, and McCoy Tyner, all of whom regarded Foster as their first-call drummer for long portions of his celebrated career – at times competing for his services. Band members Payton, Potter, and Hays each contribute a tune apiece, while Foster penned three well-wrought songs, including two homages to Thelonious Monk that bookend the program.
It’s hard to overstate Foster’s contribution to the musical production of the aforementioned giants over his 60 years as a professional. But, as much as Foster likes to wax nostalgic about the past, it’s also evident on every note of this 68-minute gem that he’s fully committed to living in the moment and playing in the here and now. This follow-up to his well-received 2019 Smoke Sessions debut, INSPIRATIONS & DEDICATIONS, is Foster’s fifth leader recording and, as even the notoriously self-critical drummer surprisingly says, “It is my best record yet.”
released August 26, 2022
Nicholas Payton – trumpet
Chris Potter – tenor and soprano saxophone
Kevin Hays – piano and Fender Rhodes
Vicente Archer – bass
Al Foster – drums
Recorded on January 25, 2022
at Sear Sound Studio C, NYC
Produced by Paul Stache and Damon Smith
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Chris Allen
Assistant Engineer: Will Bennett
Photography: Jimmy and Dena Katz
Design: Damon Smith
Chris Potter records for Edition Records
Al Foster endorses Yamaha drums and Zildjian sticks and cymbals
Executive Producers: Paul Stache and Molly Johnson
