Russ Freeman (pianist)

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Russ Freeman ( Russell Donald Freeman , born May 28, 1926 in Chicago , Illinois , † June 27, 2002 in Las Vegas / Nevada ) was an American jazz musician ( piano , composition ) and music producer . He was one of the bebop pioneers on the American west coast.

Live and act

Freeman, who had a classical piano training, worked in Los Angeles in the 1940s with musicians such as Howard McGhee , Al Killian , Dexter Gordon , Wardell Gray , Sonny Criss , Shelly Manne , Shorty Rogers and Art Pepper . He performed with Charlie Parker in 1947 and recorded with Serge Chaloff in Boston in 1954 . His classical piano training benefited him in West Coast Jazz , for which he interspersed his bebop style with idiosyncratic dramatic elements. 1953–54 he was a member of Chet Baker's first quartet , for which he also composed. Since 1955 he worked with the drummer Shelly Manne in his band Shelly Manne & His Men for eleven years . He had already recorded a series of duets with him in 1954 (1954); In 1956, his most famous piece, the third-stream ballad The Wind, followed . He also worked with Benny Goodman from 1958-59 . He has been involved in records by Zoot Sims , Art Pepper, Maynard Ferguson and Clifford Brown , as well as Lambert , Hendricks & Ross . He discovered Richard Twardzik in 1953 as an A&R man and producer at Pacific Records .

Since the early 1960s he withdrew more and more from the jazz scene. In 1962 he founded a publishing house, composed hits, played and arranged soundtracks for television and film and only appeared occasionally.

Discographic notes

  • Russ Freeman Trio [Pacific Jazz] , 1953
  • Trio with Richard Twardzik (with Joe Mondragon, Monty Budwig , Shelly Manne), 1953
  • Freeman / Baker Quartet , 1956
  • Shelly Manne & His Men: Concerto for Clarinet & Combo (Contemporary, 1957)
  • Double Play , 1957
  • One on One ( Contemporary Records , 1982) with Shelly Manne

collection

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Freeman, Russ
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Freeman, Russell Donald (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician and record producer
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH June 27, 2002
Place of death Las Vegas