ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 24, 1995 TAG: 9512220002
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: JESSE WASHINGTON ASSOCIATED PRESS
It was a steamy July night in 1953. A young saxophonist, his first day in the big city and on the brink of the big time, realizes a dream when he sits in with Charlie Parker at Birdland.
This was Frank Foster's fondest musical memory - until a cool evening this past October, when an august group of jazz luminaries gathered in Harlem to honor Foster for the 50 years he has spent creating and preserving America's classical music.
After decades in the shadows of more celebrated musicians, Foster finally received his due as composer, arranger, bandleader, educator and showman extraordinaire.
``A lot of it is his fault,'' Foster's wife and longtime manager, Cecilia, says of his relative obscurity. ``[Thelonious] Monk came after him to join his group, Miles [Davis] came after him, but he turned down both of them to stay in that Basie band.''
Monk and Miles settled for John Coltrane, while the Count Basie Orchestra turned out to be the vehicle for Foster's most enduring musical contributions.
On the night he sat in with Parker, Foster had just joined the celebrated group. He stayed until 1964, composing such classics as ``Blues in Frankie's Flat,'' ``Shiny Stockings'' and ``Four-Five-Six.'' He returned as bandleader in 1986, when the group celebrated its 50th anniversary, and retired last July.
Along the way, Foster took pains to stay true to the band's trademark - the happy swing that so captivated Basie when he first heard it from a band playing on the back of a truck in Kansas City - while incorporating elements of classical music.
The two other prominent big bands of Basie's era, led by Duke Ellington and Jimmy Lunceford, were known for their sophistication. ``But Basie's music,'' Foster says, ``was more from the street.''
``Ellington and Lunceford elevated the art form to a very high level because of the technical sophistication required to perform it, and people with very refined tastes gravitated to that music,'' Foster says. ``On the other hand, the common man on the street could relate to Basie's music, [because] it was so happy. Even when they played the blues - which is supposed to be about misery, unrequited love, disenfranchisement, negative feelings - their blues was happy.''
Foster's own joy was evident during his tribute at Aaron Davis Hall. Resplendent in the only white tuxedo in the house, face creased in a cuddly smile beneath a gray Afro, he joked with Bill Cosby and co-host Phylicia Rashad, jived with the audience and generally had everyone eating out of his palm.
``I'm a microphone freak,'' Foster, 67, admitted during an interview at a Harlem restaurant sometime later. ``I like to entertain the audience by the spoken word. It's all part of relating, very slyly, to the audience, and getting the audience to relate more to us.''
Pianist Hank Jones opened the tribute with a solo rendition of Foster's composition, ``Cecilia Is Love.'' Then Jones was joined by Jon Faddis, Slide Hampton, Jimmy Heath, Teodross Avery, Earl May and Ben Jones on ``Simone.''
After drummer Max Roach sat down for a solo with only a high hat and proceeded to play every inch of the instrument from the floor on up, Foster added lickety-split sax licks on an improvisational ``Foster to the Max.''
Co-host Quincy Jones took the stage to proclaim the honoree ``one of the great, great masters of jazz.''
``He's arranged for all the greats, including Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk,'' said Jones. ``He even did a couple notes for me.''
Other highlights included a powerful Diane Schurr singing Foster's Grammy-winning arrangement of ``Deedles Blue''; Jardis Foster bowing gracefully to her father as she danced to ``For My Lady''; Joe Williams singing ``The Comeback''; and Tito Puente energizing the audience with ``Mambo Inn.''
Born in Cincinnati, Foster began his musical career at age 11 when he and a friend saw a newspaper ad for clarinet lessons. In high school, he wrote and arranged for his own 12-piece band.
After graduating from what is now Central (Ohio) State University, Foster joined the Snooky Young band in Detroit. He was drafted into the Army in 1951, spent two years in Korea and was hired by Basie two months after his discharge.
Foster has toured and recorded with several of his own groups, written for the London Symphony, arranged songs for Frank Sinatra and Lena Horne, and won a Grammy for arranging George Benson's original tune, ``Basie's Bag.'' He also has published several insightful essays, taught college courses and earned a doctorate in music from Central State.
``I would just like to continue the great legacy left by the great orchestrating, performing band leaders,'' Foster says. ``Those who do it all: play, write, do literary writing, talk to people, educate. That's the legacy I'd like to leave.''
He doesn't regret turning down Monk and Miles for the security of a $150-a-week salary with Basie. The tribute validated that decision.
``He's been such an unsung hero,'' Cecilia Foster says, ``but he's such a quiet and modest man he always seemed content to be in the shadows. Being married to him, I knew how frustrated he was.
``I wondered if the music would ever acknowledge him. And although he wouldn't say it, I'm sure he did, too.''
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Jazz saxophonist and composer Frank Foster (left)by CNBappears with comedian Bill Cosby during a tribute to Foster at
Harlem's Aaron Davis Hall in October. Foster was honored for the 50
years he has spent creating and preserving jazz.