Chico Freeman

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Chico Freeman - Portrait by Gert Chesi, 80s
Chico Freeman (1989)

Chico Freeman (* 17th July 1949 in Chicago , Illinois as Earl Lavon Freeman Jr. ) is an American jazz musician ( saxophone , clarinet , flute , composition ).

Live and act

The son of the Chicago saxophonist Von Freeman learned the piano in preschool and trumpet in school , but performed mainly with vocal groups as a teenager. He discovered the tenor saxophone while studying mathematics and then moved to Governors State University to study music. In 1976 the university band he directed won a total of five prizes at the Notre Dame Jazz Festival , two of which were awarded to him. He supplemented his studies with private lessons with Muhal Richard Abrams . During this time he played in AACM ensembles, in his father's band, but also with blues musicians such as Junior Wells and Memphis Slim . In 1976 he moved to New York , where he worked with Sam Rivers , Cecil McBee and other representatives of the loft jazz scene, but also with Jeanne Lee and Sun Ra . In 1977 he toured Europe with Elvin Jones' band . He then played with Don Pullen . With the AACM Big Band and with his father he was a guest at the Moers Festival and the Berlin Jazz Festival in 1979 .

While he initially own groups with Anthony Davis or Billy Hart to avant-garde jazz further fathomed, he turned to the early 1980s and the tradition of care for. He is probably the first experimental jazz musician of his generation to present an album with only standards with “Destiny's Dance”. In keeping with the album “Tradition in Transition” (1982), he dressed himself and his touring band in uniform suits. With his own groups as well as with Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition and with McCoy Tyner , he has played at major American and European festivals.

In 1984 he founded the all-star formation The Leaders with Famoudou Don Moye , which also included Arthur Blythe , Lester Bowie , Kirk Lightsey , Cecil McBee and initially Don Cherry and Don Pullen . In addition, he continued to work with his father and his own groups; In addition to acoustic groups, he also led an electric band with Brainstorm . Mal Waldron and Dianne Reeves are also involved in his more recent recordings . He played regularly with the Reto Weber Percussion Orchestra and other guests such as Albert Mangelsdorff ("The Wake Keeping", 1996) or Franco Ambrosetti ("Face to Face", 2001). He also worked on recordings by Tito Puente , Machito , Ray Barretto , Lester Bowie and Kip Hanrahan .

From the 2000s onwards, Freeman continued to work with musicians like Franco Ambrosetti ( Face to Face ), Idris Ackamoor ( Homage To Cuba , 2004), Avery Sharpe , Fritz Pauer ( The Essence of Silence , 2010), Caryl Baker and his brother, the Guitarist George Freeman ( All in the Family , 2015). In the field of jazz, according to Tom Lord , he was involved in 105 recording sessions between 1975 and 2015.

Discography (selection)

Chico Freeman 2011 at the L'Inouï Jazz Club in Redingen , Luxembourg .

Web links

Commons : Chico Freeman  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Lexical entry

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed November 23, 2019)
personal data
SURNAME Freeman, Chico
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Freeman, Earl Lavon junior (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago