Pops Foster Biography

George Murphy Foster, almost always known as Pops Foster (18 May 1892 (?) - 30 October 1969) was a jazz musician, best known for his vigorous string bass playing. Foster also played tuba and trumpet professionally.

Foster was born in a plantation near McCall, Louisiana. His family moved to New Orleans when he was about 10. His older brother Willard Foster began playing banjo and guitar; George started out on a cello then switched to string bass.

Pops Foster was playing professionally by about 1907, and worked with Jack Carey, Kid Ory, Armand Piron, King Oliver and other prominent hot bands of the era.

In 1921 he moved to St. Louis, Missouri to play with Charlie Creath and Dewey Jackson's bands, which would be his base for much of the decade, other than some time in Los Angeles to join Kid Ory in California.

In 1929 Foster moved to New York City, where he played with the bands of Luis Russell and Louis Armstrong through 1940. He giged with various New York based bands through the 1940s, including with Sidney Bechet, Art Hodes, and regular broadcasts on the national "This Is Jazz" radio program.

In the late 1940s he began touring more widely, playing in many countries in Europe, especially in France, and throughout the United States including returns to New Orleans and California.

San Francisco became his home in his later years, and he died in that city.

"The Autobiography of Pops Foster" was published in 1971, with a new edition in 2005 ISBN 0-87930-831-1 (alk. paper). The book is not known for great accuracy when some anecdotes are compared to other sources.