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Tom Stoddard

The first famous double-bass stylist in jazz, George Murphy Pops Foster enjoyed a career that spanned gigs with greats from Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. This autobiography, first published in 1971 and now reissued with a generous collection of rare photographs, was created from 70 hours of interviews with this beloved and influential musician. Foster recounts his seven-decade career with uncanny attention to detail and charming candor, providing an uncensored look at the society in which jazz developed and breathing life into legends such as Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, and Sidney Bechet. As he takes us on his journey from plantation to riverboat, New Orleans to New York City, Foster paints an indelible panorama of the jazzman’s life while setting the record straight on many crucial points of jazz history.