As a charter member of
the Headhunters, the brash crew that also included
Muddy Waters and
Jimmy Rogers (so named because of their penchant for entering nightclubs featuring other musicians and blowing them off the stage with their superior musicianship), "
Baby Face"
Leroy Foster was on hand to help develop the postwar Chicago blues idiom. Unfortunately, he wasn't around long enough to enjoy the fruits of his labors.
The Mississippi native came to Chicago in 1945 in the star-crossed company of harpist
Little Walter and pianist
Johnny Jones. He worked with
Sunnyland Slim and
Sonny Boy Williamson before hooking up with the young and hungry
Waters aggregation.
Foster played drums on 1948 dates for Tempo-Tone that produced
Floyd Jones' brooding "Hard Times,"
Little Walter's "Blue Baby," and a
Sunnyland Slim-fronted "I Want My Baby."
He switched to rhythm guitar to accompany
Waters on several of his 1948-1949 Aristocrat 78s, notably "You're Gonna Miss Me (When I'm Dead and Gone)," "Mean Red Spider," and "Screamin' and Cryin'," as well as
Johnny Jones' rolling "Big Town Playboy."
Foster also recorded for Aristocrat as a frontman: "Locked Out Boogie" and "Shady Grove Blues" were done at a 1948 date that produced six
Muddy masters.
Waters got in some hot water with the Chess brothers when he moonlighted on
Foster's rip-roaring eight-song session for Parkway in January of 1950. Though
Foster's crashing drums are prominent throughout,
Muddy's slashing slide and mournful moans are clearly heard on
Foster's two-part "Rollin' and Tumblin'" -- enough so that
Waters was forced to wax his own version for Aristocrat to kill sales on
Foster's rendition by his bosses.
Those Parkway masters had amazing resiliency --
Foster's raunchy "Red Headed Woman" reemerged on Savoy in 1954 ("Boll Weevil" had turned up on Herald the previous year). Two singles for JOB -- 1950's "My Head Can't Rest Anymore"/"Take a Little Walk with Me" (with
Muddy and
Rogers in support, it was later released on Chess) and 1952's "Pet Rabbit"/"Louella" (with
Sunnyland and guitarist
Robert Jr. Lockwood lending a hand) -- round out his slim vinyl legacy. Alcoholism brought
Baby Face down early: he was only 35 years old when he died in 1958. ~ Bill Dahl