Gary Foster - LHS Class of 1954

Gary Foster was born in Leavenworth, Kansas in 1936, he started on the clarinet at age 13. His first personal musical inspiration was Olin Parker, a Jr. High School music director and private teacher who introduced Foster to Woody Herman, Count Basie and many other types of music. He listened closely to the Woody Herman orchestra recording of "Four Brothers" from the late 1940s which featured jazz saxophone icons Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and Serge Chaloff. For Foster, Getz stood out on the tenor saxophone because of his tone. Getz and other players in turn lead back to Lester Young and then Charlie Parker who Foster also recognizes as major influences. His earliest professional experience was at age of 15 playing Leavenworth VFW Hall dances with bassist Harold Stanford; "if they didn't dance, you weren't doing your job." After high school Foster first studied at Central College in Fayette, Missouri, he then transferred to the University of Kansas where he primarily studied classical clarinet and music education and received his BM Ed. and BM (Bachelor of Music Education and Bachelor in Clarinet Performance), further graduate study was done in Musicology and Conducting. While there in school at KU he met and played with Kansas City jazz trumpet great Carmell Jones.

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