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
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Tom Coster (born August 21, 1941) is an American keyboardist, composer, and longtime backing musician for Carlos Santana.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
Tom Coster was an American composer, musician and songwriter. The composer was born in Detroit. Genres include jazz fusion and jazz-funk.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Tom Coster. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
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
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
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
MusicBrainz artist record for Tom CosterMetaBrainz Foundation
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
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.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
42,307 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Tom ChaplinPerson
- Tom CochranePerson
- Tom CollierPerson
- Tom CoraPerson
- Tom CruisePerson
- Tom DicePerson
- Tom DisseveltPerson
- Tom DowdPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Tom Coster?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.