George Freeman (born April 10, 1927) is an American jazz guitarist and recording artist. He is known for his sophisticated technique, collaborations with high-profile performers, and notable presence in the jazz scene of Chicago, Illinois. He is the younger brother of tenor saxophonist Von Freeman and drummer Eldridge "Bruz" Freeman, and the uncle of tenor saxophonist and trumpeter Chico Freeman.
Early life
Freeman was born on April 10, 1927, in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were amateur musicians—his father a trombonist and his mother a guitarist and singer. His father, George Sr., was a Chicago police officer who regularly befriended musicians at the South Side clubs on his beat, most notably the Grand Terrace Ballroom. As a result, Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Fats Waller, and other foundational jazz musicians frequently visited the Freeman home.
Freeman's siblings went on to become professional musicians. Bruz played drums, and Von the tenor saxophone. Freeman himself would come to play the guitar, inspired by his visits as a teenager to the Rhumboogie Cafe in the early 1940s. There, he saw T-Bone Walker play, and the crowd's ecstatic response to Walker motivated him to learn the guitar.
Wind players such as Von and later Charlie Parker informed Freeman's basic approach to music. He further refined his skills while attending DuSable High School, whose students included Von, Gene Ammons, Johnny Griffin, Red Holloway, Clifford Jordan, John Gilmore, Wilbur Ware, Dinah Washington, Sonny Cohn, Richard Davis, and other musicians.
Career
During his teenage years, Freeman was invited to play with The Dukes of Swing, a band led by Eugene Wright. Shortly after, wanting more opportunities to solo, Freeman started his own band, performing mainly at the ballroom of the Pershing Hotel at 64th and Cottage Grove. By 1946 Freeman was fronting Chicago's first modern-jazz bebop band, a band that included alto saxophonist Henry Pryor, tenor saxophonist Alec Johnson, and trumpeter Robert Gay. Freeman-led bands also backed visiting musicians such as Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. During the engagement with Young, the saxophonist called for his recently-recorded song D.B. Blues. In response, Freeman surprised Young by playing his solo note-for-note, a custom Freeman had previously cultivated with his Chicago audience.
1947–1949: New York City
In 1947, shortly after his 20th birthday, Freeman traveled to New York with Johnny Griffin – a high school friend who previously had left Chicago to tour with the Lionel Hampton band – to join the band he was forming with trumpeter Joe Morris. Over the next year, Freeman met and listened to notable artists in the bebop genre. He also gave a solo guitar concert in Philadelphia for an audience consisting of a young Fats Navarro and John Coltrane.
Freeman made his first recordings with the Joe Morris Orchestra in late 1947, first on the Manor label, and then on the fledgling Atlantic label. The band's sound was a blend of R&B and jazz, which contrasted with Freeman's more eccentric, bebop-inspired style of playing. His extended solo feature on Boogie Woogie Joe, recorded in late 1947, has been described by one rock music writer as "...the first scintillating guitar workout in rock history."
In December 1947, the Morris band recorded a song based on The Hulk, a blues composed by Freeman. For the Atlantic recording, it was renamed Lowe Groovin' , a title derived from the name of a Washington, D.C., disk jockey named Jackson Lowe. When the record came out in 1948, the composition was credited on the label to Morris, not Freeman. Freeman quit the band and returned to Chicago in response.
1950–1959: Collaborations with Charlie Parker and others
Upon his return, Freeman re-assumed his place in the Chicago music scene, often performing with his brothers at the Pershing Hotel. Highlights of this period were collaborations with Charlie Parker – twice in Chicago and once in Detroit – between 1950 and 1951. During these performances, Parker developed a close musical and personal rapport with the Freemans. At one engagement, Von took George's tie and lent it to Parker. Parker never returned it and subsequently wore it in publicity photos, including one on the wall behind the stage at The Jazz Showcase in Chicago. At another point, as a set was scheduled to begin while Freeman was still backstage, Parker rejected the pleas of the audience to start: "No, I'm not going to play anything until George gets back."