Tom Coster
Tom Coster (born August 21, 1941) is an American keyboardist, composer, and longtime backing musician for Carlos Santana.
Tom Coster
Kuba Bożanowski from Warsaw, Poland · Tom Coster · CC BY 2.0
- Name
- Tom Coster
- Born
- 21 August 1941
- Birthplace
- Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
- Occupation
- Musician, composer
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- jazz fusion · jazz-funk
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
museum · aac85622-84a5-4e40-aea9-5c2cdf4f34ad · wikidata · Q766030 · wikipedia · Tom Coster
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Tom Coster • Landscape — yes • Born — 21 August 1941 • Birthplace — Detroit, Michigan, U.S. • Instrument — Keyboards • Genre — Rock, Latin rock, jazz fusion, classical • Occupation — Musician, composer • Associated Acts — Carlos Santana Billy Cobham Third Eye Blind Vital Information
Early years
Early years
Detroit-born and San Francisco-raised, Coster played piano and accordion as a youth, continuing his studies through college and a productive five-year stint as a musician in the U.S. Air Force Band.
Career
Career
Coster has played with and/or composed for many groups and musicians including The Loading Zone, Gábor Szabó, Carlos Santana, Billy Cobham, Third Eye Blind, Coryell/Coster/Smith, Claudio Baglioni, Stu Hamm, Boz Scaggs, Zucchero and Bobby Holiday, Joe Satriani, Frank Gambale, and Vital Information. Coster also produced several solo jazz fusion recordings as a leader for Fantasy, Headfirst, and JVC. Some of Coster's best-known compositions are "Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)", "Flor D'Luna (Moonflower)" and "Dance, Sister, Dance (Baila Mi Hermana)" performed by Santana and "The Perfect Date" performed by Vital Information.
Personal life
Personal life
Coster's son was born in 1966, is also called Tom Coster, and also a keyboardist and composer.
Identity
Identity
Tom Coster is recorded with the occupation jazz musician. Recorded with the occupation songwriter. Recorded with the occupation composer. Classed in the genre jazz fusion. Classed in the genre jazz-funk. Recorded as composer, songwriter and musician.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1941
Tom Coster was born on 21 August 1941.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Tom Coster was born at Detroit.
Birthplace
Detroit.
Birth place
Solo discography and personnel
• T.C. (Fantasy, 1981) • Tom Coster - keyboards, Linn-1 drum machine programming • Joaquin Lievano - guitar • Randy Jackson - bass • Steve Smith - drums • Ivory Expeditions (Fantasy, 1983) • Tom Coster - keyboards • Joaquin Lievano - guitar • Randy Jackson - bass • Steve Smith - drums • Walter Afanasieff - additional keyboards • Tommy Coster - additional keyboards • Did Jah Miss Me?!? (Headfirst/JVC, 1989) • Tom Coster - keyboards • Tommy Coster - keyboards • Jordan Rudess - keyboards • Ernie Watts - alto, soprano and tenor saxophones, and Yamaha WX-7 wind driver • Norbert Stachel - tenor saxophone • Frank Gambale - acoustic and electric guitars • Randy Jackson - electric bass • Dennis Chambers - drums • Steve Smith - drums • Larry Grenadier - acoustic bass • From Me to You (Headfirst/JVC, 1990) • Tom Coster - keyboards • Tommy Coster - keyboards • Mark Russo - saxophones • Corrado Rustci - guitar • Kai-Eckhardt Karpeh - bass • William Kennedy - drums • Armando Peraza - congas, bongos • Jimi Tunnell - vocals • Gotcha (JVC, 1992) • Tom Coster - keyboards, computer programming, synth and drum programming • Mark Russo - saxophones • Chris Camozzi - guitar • Alphonso Johnson - electric and fretless bass • Dennis Chambers - drums • Norbert Stachel - saxophones • Let's Set the Record Straight (JVC, 1993) • Tom Coster - keyboards • Bob Berg - saxophones • Frank Gambale - acoustic and electric guitars • Alphonso Johnson - electric and fretless bass • Dennis Chambers - drums • Raul Rekow - congas, bata, vocals • Karl Perazzo - congas, bongos • Steve Smith - drums • Tommy Coster - Producer, keyboards and synth • The Forbidden Zone (JVC, 1994) • Tom Coster - keyboards, synthe bass • Bob Berg - tenor saxophone • Scott Henderson - guitars • Jeff Andrews - electric bass • Alphonso Johnson - electric and fretless bass • Dennis Chambers - drums • Raul Rekow - congas, bata, chekere, vocal chant • Karl Perazzo - timbales, congas, miscellaneous percussion • Tommy Coster - Producer • Interstate '76 Soundtrack (w/Bullmark) (Activision, 1996) • Tom Coster - keyboards • Arion Salazar (Third Eye Blind) - electric bass • Bryan Mantia (Primus) - drums & percussion • Jon Bendich - • Les Harris (Curveball) - • Dave Schul (Curveball) - • From the Street (JVC, 1996) • Tom Coster - keyboards, synth bass • Bob Malach - tenor saxophone • Michael Brecker - tenor saxophone • Dean Brown - rhythm guitar • Steve Cardenas - lead guitar • Dennis Chambers - drums • Sheila E. - percussion • Stu Hamm - electric bass • Mark Isham - trumpet and cornet • Tim Landers - electric and acoustic bass • Tommy Coster - Producer
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q766030: Tom Coster
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Tom Coster”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Institutional database
- MusicBrainz artist record for Tom Coster
Scholarly · MetaBrainz Foundation
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Tom Coster, revision 1371051255 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
References
Citations
References
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Institutional database
MusicBrainz artist record for Tom CosterMetaBrainz Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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