Russ Freeman (pianist)


Russell Donald Freeman was a bebop and cool jazz pianist and composer.
Initially, Freeman was classically trained. His reputation as a jazz pianist grew in the 1940s after working with Art Pepper and Shorty Rogers. He played with Charlie Parker on the 1947 "Home Cooking" jazz session. Numerous collaborations followed in the 1950s with Chet Baker, Shelly Manne, and Art Pepper. These collaborations included the Jazz Immortal CD recorded with Russ Freeman and jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown in 1954, which included leading musicians Brown and Zoot Sims. On the Jazz Immortal CD, Russ Freeman was able to play in a combo that recorded many Clifford Brown compositions.
In 1957, he collaborated with André Previn on the album Double Play!, where they both played piano, accompanied only by Manne on drums.
In 1988, Keith Jarrett performed a version of Freeman's "The Wind" in a solo concert in Paris, which is featured on his album Paris Concert. In 1991, Mariah Carey wrote her own lyrics to "The Wind" for her album Emotions. Freeman had written "The Wind" with original lyrics by Jerry Gladstone; it had been performed as an instrumental piece during the 1950s and 1960s by the likes of Baker, Leo Wright, and Stan Getz, and had been sung by vocalist June Christy. Freeman's piano is featured on Baker's 1954 recording of "The Wind". Freeman remained busy in music throughout his life, transitioning from jazz pianist to film scoring and composition before his death in Las Vegas in 2002.
Freeman was married three times, and he had one daughter, Paula Kenley Freeman, from his second marriage. He had no grandchildren.
His daughter moved from Seattle to live in the Netherlands in 2009, and an interview about her relationship with her father appeared in the May 2009 issue of the European magazine, PianoWereld.

Discography

With Chet Baker
With Maynard Ferguson
With Jimmy Giuffre
  • Jimmy Giuffre
With Irene Kral
  • Wonderful Life
With Shelly Manne
  • "The Three" & "The Two" - compilation of previously issued 10-inch LPs
  • The West Coast Sound
  • Swinging Sounds
  • More Swinging Sounds
  • Concerto for Clarinet & Combo
  • The Gambit
  • Shelly Manne & His Men Play Peter Gunn
  • Ruth Price with Shelly Manne & His Men at the Manne-Hole with Ruth Price
  • Live! Shelly Manne & His Men at the Manne-Hole
  • Shelly Manne & His Men Play Checkmate
  • My Fair Lady with the Un-original Cast
  • Manne–That's Gershwin!
  • Boss Sounds!
With Jack Montrose
With Art Pepper
With André Previn
  • Double Play!
  • The Subterraneans
With Pete Rugolo