In signing up longtime
Lou Donaldson
sideman
Herman Foster
for a trio date as a leader in 1960,
Epic Records
may have been hoping for a more accessible version of
Thelonious Monk
or
Bud Powell
, whose styles the pianist frequently drew upon.
Foster
didn't have the complexity of those predecessors, which was perhaps the point. He employed a locked-hands technique which he contrasted with melodic, single-note runs that frequently indulged in quotes from popular songs.
Epic
gave him some familiar material to work with here, and he made the best of it, exploring the long melody lines of
"Volare"
with enthusiasm and giving a playful treatment to
"When I Fall in Love."
"Angel Eyes,"
normally a mournful
ballad
, was the album's closer and tour de force, on which
found plenty of other angles on the tune. Bassist
Earl May
got a look in here and there, while drummer
Frankie Dunlop
stuck mostly with brushes and stayed mostly in the background. It was only appropriate that a perpetual sideman like
should get his place in the sun, at least for the length of an LP. The record did not, as it turned out, herald the beginning of a big career for the pianist, but it was more than a busman's holiday, and
plumped for a second disc the following year. ~ William Ruhlmann