[Cover photo credit to Jen Rosenstein]
Organ great Ronnie Foster returns to Blue Note Records with the July 15, 2022 release of Reboot, his first new album in 36 years. It arrives 50 years after his 1972 Blue Note debut Two Headed Freap. The nine-song album was recorded at the legendary Capitol Studios and marks a fresh start for Foster, who has generated a Hammond Organ Groove that pays homage to the past but also reflects the new. The album’s title track “Reboot” is out now featuring Foster on organ, his son Chris Foster on drums, and Michael O’Neill on guitar. Reboot will be available on D2C exclusive red vinyl, black vinyl, CD, and digital download.
Many audiences have heard Foster’s playing before, whether on “Summer Soft” from Stevie Wonder’s 1976 masterwork Songs In The Key Of Life, George Benson albums including Breezin’, or A Tribe Called Quest’s classic Hip-Hop track “Electric Relaxation” which sampled Foster’s “Mystic Brew” from Two Headed Freap, which was reissued recently as part of Blue Note’s Classic Vinyl Reissue Series.
The Buffalo, New York born keyboardist first caught the ear of Blue Note co-founder Francis Wolff when he made his first-ever recording as a sideman on Grant Green’s Blue Note LP, Alive! in 1970. Two Headed Freap was the first in a run of fiveJazz-Funk albums Foster would make for Blue Note throughout the 1970s including Sweet Revival, Live: Cookin’ with Blue Note at Montreux, On the Avenue, and Cheshire Cat. You can check out the playlist Ronnie Foster: The Finest featuring highlights from the organist’s Blue Note discography for a sampling.
In the new album’s liner notes, Ronnie pays homage to one very important person in his life who passed away in 2021:
This album is dedicated to the memory of my brother, friend, Buffalo Homie and hero Dr. Lonnie Smith, who was one of the best in the world on the Hammond B3 organ.
