His older brother, Willard Foster, began playing banjo and guitar; George started out on a cello then switched to string bass.

[1] Pops Foster was playing professionally by 1907 and worked with Jack Carey, Kid Ory, Armand Piron, King Oliver and other prominent hot bands of the era.

[3] He gigged with New York-based bands through the 1940s, including those of Sidney Bechet, Art Hodes, and regularly participated in the national This Is Jazz radio program.

He recorded with the Mezzrow-Bechet Quintet (Bechet, Mezz Mezzrow, Fitz Weston, and Kaiser Marshall)[4] and Septet (on two consecutive dates in 1945, with Hot Lips Page (as Pappa Snow White),[5] Sammy Price (as Jimmy Blythe Jr.),[5] Danny Barker and Sid Catlett, and on the second session with Pleasant Joe on vocals).

[5] In the late 1940s, he began touring more widely and played in many countries in Europe, especially in France, and throughout the United States including returns to New Orleans and California.