Lawrence "Bud" Freeman (April 13,
1906 in
Chicago, Illinois - March 15,
1991 in
Chicago) was a
U.S. jazz musician, bandleader, amd composer, known mainly for playing the tenor saxophone, but also able at the clarinet. He had a smooth and full tenor sax style with a heavy robust swing. He was one of the most influential and important jazz tenor saxophonists of the
Big Band era. His major recordings were "
The Eel", "
Tillie's
Downtown Now", "Crazeology", "
The Buzzard", and "After Awhile", composed with
Benny Goodman.One of the original members of the
Austin High School Gang which began in 1922,
Freeman played the
C-melody saxophone alongside his other band members such as
Jimmy McPartland and
Frank Teschemacher before switching to tenor saxophone two years later. Influenced by artists like the
New Orleans Rhythm Kings and
Louis Armstrong from the
South, they would begin to formulate their own style, becoming part of the emerging
Chicago Style of jazz. In
1927, he moved to
New York, where he worked as a session musician and band member with
Red Nichols,
Roger Wolfe Kahn,
Ben Pollack,
Joe Venuti, among others. One of his most notable performances was a solo on
Eddie Condon's 1933 recording, The Eel, which then became
Freeman's nickname (for his long snake-like improvisations). Freeman played with
Tommy Dorsey's Orchestra (1936-1938) as well as for a short time Benny Goodman's band in
1938 before forming his own band, the
Summa Cum Laude Orchestra (1939-1940). Freeman joined the
US Army during
World War II, and headed a US Army band in the
Aleutian Islands.
Following the war, Freeman returned to New York and led his own groups, yet still kept a close tie to the freewheeling bands of
Eddie Condon as well as working in 'mainstream' groups with the likes of
Buck Clayton,
Ruby Braff,
Vic Dickenson and
Jo Jones. He wrote (along with
Leon Pober) the ballad "Zen Is When", recorded by
The Dave Brubeck Quartet on
Jazz Impressions of Japan (1964). He was a member of the
World's Greatest Jazz Band between
1969 and
1970, and occasionally thereafter. In
1974, he would move to
England where he made numerous recordings and performances there and in
Europe.
Returning to Chicago in
1980, he continued to work into his eighties. He also released two memoirs You
Don't Look Like a
Musician (1974) and
If You Know of a
Better Life,
Please Tell Me (
1976), and wrote an autobiography with
Robert Wolf, Crazeology (
1989). In
1992,
Bud Freeman was inducted into the Big Band and
Jazz Hall of Fame.
Tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman was a member of a group of young
White Chicago Jazz musicians known as the Austin High School Gang. This group consisted of Jimmy McPartland and his brother
Dick McPartland, Frank Teschemacher, Eddie Condon,
Dave Tough,
Jim Lanigan and
Joe Sullivan. He recorded with McKenzie-Condon Chicagoans in 1927 and then moved to New York with Ben Pollack.
In New York he proved to be a sought after session musician and recorded with
Bix Beiderbecke and his Orchestra,
Hoagy Carmichael and his Orchestra and Joe Venuti's
Blue Four, as well as working with various bandleaders including Red Nichols, the Roger Wolfe Kahn Orchestra and with
Zez Confrey. In 1936 he played with
Tommy Dorsey and he joined the
Benny Goodman Orchestra in 1938, but left with in a year. During World War II he led a service band.
After the war played regularly with Eddie Condon, as well as fronting his own bands and recording for the rest of his life.
- published: 14 Oct 2009
- views: 19226