Born in 1987, double bassist Emmanuel Forster discovered jazz at the age of 10 while attending middle school in Marciac.

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The enthusiasm from this discovery—guided by Jean-Pierre Peyrebelle and Pierre Boussaguet—carried him to the Toulouse Conservatory, from which he graduated in 2006.

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Following a meeting with his first mentor, Hein van de Geyn, he went on to study at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague (Netherlands), and later at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP), where he studied alongside Riccardo Del Fra, Hervé Sellin, and Glenn Ferris.

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Upon completing his studies, Emmanuel was invited by Hervé Sellin to participate in the recording of his album Passerelles (October 2017), which was performed in numerous festivals and clubs across France and Europe. Around this time, Emmanuel launched his career as a sideman, touring Europe and the Middle East alongside artists such as Palestinian pianist Faraj Suleiman (Middle-East Rock Jazz) and Hervé Sellin (Jazz and Classical music).

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In late 2017, Emmanuel crossed paths with drummer Ali Jackson during a jam session, who subsequently invited him to become the double bassist of his European trio. This was a defining moment: through this new mentor, Emmanuel deepened his historical understanding of jazz roots, the high demands of top-level artistic excellence, and the importance of musical lineage, working alongside a musician who is part of jazz history and has collaborated with the genre’s greatest icons.

This trio performed at several festivals in France and Europe (including the "Ali Jackson presents French Jazz Future" concert at L'Astrada during the Jazz in Marciac festival, broadcast on France Musique, Jazz sur son 31, and the Carpathian Space Festival in Ukraine).

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Since then, he has performed across a wide variety of musical styles revolving around jazz: American and Traditional Jazz, Pop-Jazz, original compositions, modern music, and more.

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As a sideman, he is currently the double bassist for the Jeremy Rollando Quartet (albums La Montgolfière in 2023 and Zef in 2026) and a member of Korean pianist Daeuk Heo's Heo Trio (contemporary jazz), with whom he regularly tours in Asia.

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He has notably been heard performing alongside Ali Jackson, Hervé Sellin, David Linx, Laurent De Wilde, Médéric Collignon, Romain Pilon, Faraj Suleiman, Habib Hana, Samuel Strouk, Léo Jassef, Benjamin and Jean Dousteyssier, Sébastien Giniaux, Jean-Luc Amestoy, Pascal and Jeremy Rollando, Thibaud Dufoy, Baptiste de Chabaneix, Nicolas Gardel, Grégoire Aguilar...

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Among the guest artists during his studies, he performed in concerts with Jeff Ballard and Daniel Humair—with whom he had the honor of performing several times in Toulouse at the Drums Summit festival at the initiative of Daniel Dumoulin—as well as Dave Liebman, Glenn Ferris, Danilo Pérez, and others.

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In parallel, inspired by his first mentor, the master educator Hein van de Geyn, Emmanuel taught at Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès for 5 years. He has been giving private lessons and conducting workshops for amateur musicians since the age of 21, notably at the "Jazz au vert" workshop alongside TonTon Salut and David Pautric.`

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Since late 2023, building on his extensive experience, he formed the Emmanuel Forster Trio "Homage to Ray Brown" alongside his long-time collaborator, pianist Thibaud Dufoy. Rooted in the traditional jazz of his early passion, this project marks his step forward as a leader, having already performed over 40 concerts and recorded an album: KinHood Ray Brown's Spirit, released in October 2026.