Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
Changing of the Guard at Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
On October 23, Ted Nash – having toured the world playing alto, soprano and tenor saxophone, clarinet and bass…
George Freeman, shown here at Chicago’s Green Mill, performed well into his 90s.
(Photo: Michael Jackson)Guitarist George Freeman, a mainstay of the Chicago jazz scene, died April 1 at age 97 — just days before being scheduled to play a show to celebrate his 98th birthday.
Freeman came from a family of gifted musicians that included his older brothers, the late saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master Earle Lavon “Von” Freeman and drummer Eldridge “Bruz” Freeman. Introduced to the city’s thriving scene by his father, a police officer who came to know the musicians who played the clubs on his beat and befriended Louis Armstrong, George Freeman began making a name for himself during his teens and was active on the rhythm ’n’ blues scene of the 1940s. In 1950, he played with Charlie Parker, and he soon became recognized as one of Chicago’s great bebop artists.
Swing and blues as embodied by the likes of Charlie Christian, Benny Goodman, T-Bone Walker, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Tommy Dorsey and others influenced Freeman’s personal vocabulary, but his style continued to evolve over the course of his long career. “I always listened to the horn players,” he told journalist Howard Mandel in the October 2023 issue of DownBeat. “And Charlie Parker changed everything. Before him it was all swing, music for dancing. But when Bird played, the dancing stopped. The young people wanted to hear what Charlie Parker was playing. They understood what he was saying.”
Freeman performed frequently with his brothers, working mainly out of the Pershing Hotel Lounge. Near the end of the ’50s, he took to the road with saxophonist Sil Austin, soul-man Jackie Wilson and organists Wild Bill Davis, Richard “Groove” Holmes and Jimmy McGriff.
He later gained wider acclaim playing and touring with saxophonist Gene Ammons for five years, bringing a more avant-garde approach to Ammons’ straightahead aesthetic.
Freeman released his debut as a leader, Birth Sign, recorded in 1969 and produced by Michael Cuscuna, in 1972 on the locally based label Delmark Records. His subsequent recordings included the 1974 albums Man & Woman and New Improved Funk (both on the Groove Merchant label), 1995’s Rebellion (Southport Records), 1999’s George Burns! (Southport Records), 2001’s At Long Last George (Savant), 2025’s All In The Family with Chico Freeman (George’s nephew, Von’s son), 2019’s George The Bomb (with blues harmonicist Billy Branch) and 2022’s Everybody Say Yeah! His recordings and performances were imbued with a slyly understated personal touch, quirky open-ended lines, a keen sense of dynamics, precise timing and touches of humor.
Freeman was honored with a proclamation by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and appeared on the Chicago Jazz Festival main stage and the Museum of Contemporary Art’s prestigious Tuesday on the Terrace concerts. He was a font of information about Chicago’s South Side jazz scene for research conducted in pursuit of an advanced University of Chicago degree by guitarist Mike Allemana.
Even well into his 90s, Freeman never stopped performing, despite being unable to hold his guitar pick the way he used to. Freeman’s final studio album as a leader, The Good Life (High Note), recorded during two trio sessions in 2022 and featuring organist Joey DeFrancesco, drummer Carl Allen, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Lewis Nash, dropped on his 96th birthday: April 10, 2023. DB
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