When tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan died in 1993, he hadn’t lived in Chicago for nearly 40 years, but he was still beloved here. “Clifford’s personality was warm and sincere, just like his tone on the saxophone,” Chicago tenor titan Von Freeman told Howard Reich at the Tribune. “He was a beautiful person—he helped me and […]
Tag: Von Freeman
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The Reader’s Jazz Festival jukebox
Like any music fest, the Chicago Jazz Festival is basically a Choose Your Own Adventure that you listen to. It’s even more multifarious than most—not only does it take over Millennium Park for four days, it also books events at the Cultural Center and Maxwell Street Market and a series of neighborhood concerts (copresented with […]
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Venerable jazz guitarist George Freeman celebrates 95 years with a new compilation
Legendary Chicago jazz guitarist George Freeman has been honing his dynamic, explosive style since the 1940s, working with dozens of the genre’s hall of famers, including Charlie Parker, Richard “Groove” Holmes, Gene Ammons, Jimmy McGriff, Buddy Rich, Shirley Scott, and his brothers Von and Bruz Freeman. On Sunday, April 10, Freeman turns 95, and to mark […]
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Ari Brown belongs in Chicago’s canon of great tenor saxophonists
Ari Brown hasn’t often sought the spotlight, but his blend of bebop rigor and avant-garde daring puts him on par with the likes of Fred Anderson and Von Freeman.
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Archie Shepp and Jason Moran turn tradition into new challenges on Let My People Go
After saxophonist Archie Shepp became known in the 1960s as a fierce musical and political voice in what was then called the avant-garde, he charted a different path. In 1977, Shepp recorded a collection of traditional spirituals (and one jazz standard) in a duet session with pianist Horace Parlan titled Goin’ Home, which is as […]
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Jumaane Taylor, tap dancer
“I’ve been on this journey to be able to present within the jazz community. . . . To be a union of creative beauty.”
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Chicago’s September jazz festivals cope with COVID
The city is replacing the Chicago Jazz Festival with a slimmed-down online event, while the smaller, nimbler Hyde Park Jazz Festival plans to try pop-up in-person shows.
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Two Chicago institutions bridge jazz and blues
Guitarist George Freeman and harmonica player Billy Branch demonstrate the common roots of the sounds they love.
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Celebrating the work that iconic Chicago saxophonist Von Freeman did with Sun Ra
Von Freeman played in Sun Ra’s Arkestra in 1959 and ’60, and this week French horn player and Chicago native Vincent Chancey leads a strong local group through tunes Ra played in those days.
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Jazz grows under Ernest Dawkins’s feet
By staying put in his hometown, this Chicago saxophonist has nurtured generations of musicians—and a south-side festival that’s now in its 16th year.
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Jazz iconoclast Steve Coleman on the ancient bedrock of human creativity
Saxophonist and composer Steve Coleman talked to local reedist Geof Bradfield during a Chicago residency that ends with a Millennium Park concert on Thursday.
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An oral history of the Green Mill
The Green Mill has more stories than any tavern in town. Here are a few from the past three decades.
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Ben Paterson, Dave Douglas, Keefe Jackson, and a tribute to Bill Russo mark a busy weekend in jazz
Who says it’s dead in December—a slew of live jazz options for the weekend
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The Secret History of Chicago Music: Captain Walter Dyett
DuSable High School band director Captain Walter Dyett taught generations of future stars.
Posted inBlogs
Guitarist Mike Allemana gets behind another of the Freeman brothers
Longtime Von Freeman sideman Mike Allemana starts a new project with George Freeman.