Freddie Green

At 76 years old, Freddie Green physical status not available right now. We will update Freddie Green's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Frederick William Green (March 31, 1911 – March 1, 1987) was an American swing jazz guitarist who performed rhythm guitar with the Count Basie Orchestra for nearly fifty years.

Early life and education

On March 31, 1911, Green was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He was exposed to music from an early age and learned the banjo before picking up the guitar in his early teenage years. Sam Walker, a friend of his father, taught a young Freddie to read music and encouraged him to keep up his guitar playing. Walker gave Freddie what was perhaps his first gig, working with a local community group of which Walker was a member. William "Cat" Anderson, another member of the group, went on to become a well-known trumpeter, working with notable personalities like Duke Ellington.

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Career

Green's parents died around the time Green's parents died, and he and his aunt moved to New York City to live with his aunt and continue his education. Freddie's conversion opened a new musical world to him. When he was still in his teens, he began to play in the city's clubs, amassing money and a reputation. He was discovered by legendary talent scout John H. Hammond, who knew Green was a natural performer and introduced him to Basie in one of these gigs.

Basie and his company performed well at one of Green's gigs in 1937, on the recommendation of an associate. Basie, a young fan, was immediately recruited and landed on Green with a job offer. Freddie Green will remain a central fixture of the Count Basie Band for the next fifty years, save for a brief break.

Green played rhythm guitar, accompanying other artists, and he rarely performed solos throughout his career. "His superb timing and... ethical sense of harmony... all contributed to the introduction of the rhythm guitar as a vital component of every rhythm section." 100 Green did not perform a solo on the January 16, 1938, Carnegie Hall concert that featured the Benny Goodman big band. Green, the rhythm guitarist for Basie, Walter Page (Basie's bassist), and musicians from Duke Ellington's band were among the ensemble's jam session on Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose." Goodman pleaded with Green to perform his own solo, which the musician Turk Van Lake described in his review of the reissued 1938 Carnegie Hall concert as a "startling step."

He changed chords quickly, often with every beat rather than every measure. His chord fingering involved him playing four strings with his fingers, although depressing just a subset of the notes. With his left hand, he softened the notes from chords. Ralph Patt's big-band playing was green's playing on his own Stromberg guitar.

Green was not a prolific composer, but he did make two major contributions to Count Basie's repertoire, "Down for Double" (recorded in 1941) and "Corner Pocket" (recorded in Paris in 1955).

Green died of a heart attack in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 1, 1987.

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