Tony Foster

Jazz pianist and composer Tony Foster was born and raised in North Vancouver, BC, Canada. His debut trio album "In Between Moods" was released in 2009 and charted in the top 50 for jazz radio in North America and has received many rave reviews.

He received his initial musical training early on, in the form of classical piano lessons privately. In school bands, his main instrument became the trumpet. His studies on the trumpet continued until college, and it was not until this time that his focus changed to piano. After playing with various university ensembles on the piano (highlighted by performances with guests such as jazz saxophone legend Phil Woods), Foster participated in a residency at the Banff Jazz Workshop in 2000 where he studied and performed with notable jazz artists including saxophonist David Liebman, multi-instrumentalist Don Thompson, pianist Kenny Werner, and bassist Ray Drummond.

Foster has also performed as a special guest accompanist for Vancouver-based jazz vocalist Dee Daniels along with the Vancouver Symphony at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver. In addition to performing with his own groups, Foster has been featured numerous times at Vancouver’s annual International Jazz Festival in different settings which included live recordings for CBC Radio (CBC Jazz Café). Foster led a septet behind Canadian crooner Kenny Colman at the 2007 edition of the festival on the main stage, before a crowd of thousands.

Travel has played a large role in Foster’s musical career. He lived most of 2002 in Nice, France where he co-founded a live electronic music project with Russian saxophonist Dimitry Shapko (http://maewy.com/identify/) which performed at the 2002 Midem International Music Market in Cannes, France, as well as touring the Cote d’Azur and dates in London, England. 2005 also saw him travel to and perform in Tokyo, and Osaka Japan.

Foster has been featured with his own trio on CBC’s nationally broadcast JAZZBEAT as well as the CBC program Hot Air hosted by Neil Ritchie.

Foster has performed with notable jazz legends as Ernestine Anderson, Red Holloway, Sheila Jordan, Kenny Colman, Dee Daniels, Jeff Hamilton, and Peter Washington.

In February 2008, Foster was featured with internationally reknowned vocalist Dee Daniels at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow Idaho, with Jeff Hamilton on drums and Peter Washington on bass.



Influences: Oscar Peterson,Ahmad Jamal,Monty Alexander,Ray Brown,Stan Getz,Herbie Hancock,John Coltrane,Chick Corea,Antonio Carlos Jobim