Freddie Green


Frederick William Green was an American swing jazz guitarist who played rhythm guitar with the Basie Orchestra for almost fifty years.

Early life and education

Green was born in Charleston, South Carolina on March 31, 1911. He was exposed to music from an early age, and learned the banjo before picking up the guitar in his early teenage years.
A friend of his father by the name of Sam Walker taught Freddie to read music, and keenly encouraged him to keep up his guitar playing. Walker gave Freddie what was perhaps his first gig, playing with a local community group of which Walker was an organizer. Another member of the group was William "Cat" Anderson, who went on to become an established trumpeter, working with notable figures such as Duke Ellington.

Career

It was around this time that Green's parents died, and he moved to New York City to live with his aunt and continue his education. The move opened up a new musical world to Freddie. While still in his teens, he began to play around the clubs of the city, earning money and a reputation. In one of these gigs, he was noticed by the legendary talent scout John H. Hammond, who realized the potential of Green and introduced him to Basie.
In 1937, Basie and his ensemble went to one of Green's gigs on the advice of an associate. Basie was an immediate fan, and approached Green with a job offer. Except for a brief interruption, Freddie Green would remain a pivotal fixture of the Count Basie Band for the next fifty years.
Throughout his career, Green played rhythm guitar, accompanying other musicians, and he rarely played solos. "His superb timing and... flowing sense of harmony... helped to establish the role of the rhythm guitar as an important part of every rhythm section." Green did play a solo on the January 16, 1938, Carnegie Hall concert that featured the Benny Goodman big band. In the jam session on Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose," Green was the rhythm guitarist for the ensemble, which featured Basie, Walter Page, and musicians from Duke Ellington's band. After Johnny Hodges' solo, Goodman signalled to Green to take his own solo, which the musician Turk Van Lake described in his commentary on the reissued 1938 Carnegie Hall concert as a "startling move."
He rapidly changed chords, often with every beat, rather than every measure. His chord fingering often involved him covering four strings with his fingers, while depressing only a subset of the notes. He dampened the unsounded notes from chords with his left hand. Green's playing on his signature Stromberg guitar was the model for Ralph Patt's big-band playing.
Green was not a prolific composer, but he did make two major contributions to Count Basie's repertoire, "Down for Double" and "Corner Pocket".
On March 1, 1987, Green died of a heart attack in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 75.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

As sideman

With Count BasieDance Session Basie Jazz – rec. 1952Dance Session Album #2 Basie The Count! – rec. 1952Joe Williams Sings with Joe Williams The Swinging Count! – rec. 1952April in Paris The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards with Joe Williams Metronome All-Stars 1956 with Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Williams Basie in London One O'Clock Jump with Joe Williams and Ella Fitzgerald Count Basie at Newport The Atomic Mr. Basie – aka Basie and E=MC2Basie Plays Hefti Sing Along with Basie with Joe Williams and Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Memories Ad-Lib with Joe Williams Basie/Eckstine Incorporated with Billy Eckstine Basie One More Time Breakfast Dance and Barbecue Everyday I Have the Blues with Joe Williams Dance Along with Basie Hall of Fame String Along with Basie Not Now, I'll Tell You When The Count Basie Story Kansas City Suite First Time! The Count Meets the Duke Count Basie and the Kansas City 7 Back with Basie Basie in Sweden On My Way & Shoutin' Again! This Time by Basie! More Hits of the 50's and 60's Pop Goes the Basie Basie Meets Bond Sinatra at the Sands with Frank Sinatra Basie's Beatle Bag Basie Swingin' Voices Singin' with the Alan Copeland Singers Broadway Basie's...Way Hollywood...Basie's Way Basie's Beat Basie's in the Bag The Happiest Millionaire Half a Sixpence The Board of Directors with The Mills Brothers Manufacturers of Soul with Jackie Wilson The Board of Directors Annual Report with The Mills Brothers Basie Straight Ahead How About This with Kay Starr Standing Ovation Basic Basie Basie on the Beatles High Voltage Loose Walk with Roy Eldridge Satch and Josh Kansas City 8: Get Together Me and You Mostly Blues...and Some Others The Original American Decca Recordings – rec. 1937–1939Live at the Sands (Before Frank) – rec. 1966
With Buck ClaytonThe Huckle-Buck and Robbins' Nest How Hi the Fi Jumpin' at the Woodside All the Cats Join In
With Al CohnThe Natural Seven That Old Feeling Four Brass One Tenor
With Harry EdisonThe Swinger Harry Edison Swings Buck Clayton
With Paul QuinichetteFor Basie Basie Reunion Like Basie!
With Joe NewmanAll I Wanna Do Is Swing I'm Still Swinging Salute to Satch I Feel Like a Newman The Midgets Joe Newman with Woodwinds
With Sarah VaughanSarah Vaughan in Hi-Fi No Count Sarah Count Basie/Sarah Vaughan Send in the Clowns
With others