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Twin Cities Jazz With Chicago Soul – Von Freeman |
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Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor
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Saturday, 15 May 2004 |
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Page 1 of 2 Hot Summer Jazz Festival Profile
 The Twin Cities Hot Summer Jazz Festival will present a wealth of both local and national talent this year. Masters of the tenor sax will be in particular abundance, from local whiz Doug Little to the legendary David Fathead Newman. Two veterans deserving more attention than they ever get are Lew Tabackin and Von Freeman, neither strangers to Twin Cities audiences.
Von Freeman most notably released a well-received recording, “Live at the Dakota” (Premonition Records, 2001) featuring local titans Terry Burns, Phil Hey, and the late Bobby Peterson. Yet even local jazz audiences are probably far less familiar with his warm tone than with the rest of the tenor line-up for the Hot Jazz festival. Consider this a golden opportunity to discover one of jazz' hidden treasures—and at no charge!
Photograph courtesy of Howard Gitelson
Although perhaps best known as the father of tenorist Chico Freeman, Von has been shaping his career in music since the tender age of two. Growing up in a musical household in Chicago (dad played ragtime trombone and mom played guitar, and his brothers went on to jazz careers of their own), Von made himself a “saxophone” from the head of an old Victrola at age 7. Soon he was studying clarinet and the Melody C Saxophone, influenced early on by Louis Armstrong, Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins. He played his first club gig at 12 and passed on a chance to travel with Earl Hines at 17, choosing to remain at DuSable High School where he played in the band. He moved on to a Navy band during World War II and later working with the Horace Henderson Orchestra and with his brothers in the house band at Chicago's Pershing Ballroom through the 1940s. His stint at the Pershing introduced him to Charlie Parker and other top performers of the era; he spent two years with Sun Ra and ultimately was associated with Chicago's Association of the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) as well as Chicago bluesman Sunnyland Slim.
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