Russ Freeman's "Safe At Home"

[Larry Kart]

https://www.amazon.com/Safe-At-Home-Russ-Freeman/dp/B01CBRPBEO/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1470346757&sr=1-4&keywords=russ+freeman+safe

 

The best Freeman on record I know, a well-recorded concert from Vancouver in 1959, with a simpatico but unidentified bassist and drummer. Not for the first time, I find Freeman's style hard to describe. Two-handed, even two-fisted, and rather bluesy at times, he might seem to have been inspired by Horace Silver (as the somewhat similar East Coast pianist/onetime Getz sideman John Williams certainly was), but this was Freeman's style from early on, when Horace was not well known. A link to Hampton Hawes is possible, but I think that Freeman was basically his own man. Nor, despite his presence on the West Coast, was he ever into the neo-Basie groove that so many pianist of that locale and era favored. Also -- and this album is a fine example -- Freeman was a melodist with both hands to an uncommon degree; seldom if ever do I hear that familiar right-hand single-line melody/left-hand chordal comping texture from him; rather, melodic activity not only tends to be evenly distributed between hands but also is just as likely to be both chordal and single-line in a typically dense interactive manner. That  characteristic density, if I had to pick one thing, is what makes Freeman distinctive. That he was a backer of Dick Twardzik and was responsible for Twardzik's Pacific Jazz trio date may be no accident, for Twardzik had some similar traits, though Freeman was not as overtly "far out" as Twardzik was. Another echo might be to Kenny Drew -- not of influence again but affinity, in that both men, much as they obviously admired Bud Powell, also  sound as though they were fond of boogie woogie pianism in their formative years. In any case, this is one fine record.

[JohnS]

I agree, excellent piano trio.  Well  worth having.

[soulpope]

10 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

https://www.amazon.com/Safe-At-Home-Russ-Freeman/dp/B01CBRPBEO/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1470346757&sr=1-4&keywords=russ+freeman+safe

 

The best Freeman on record I know, a well-recorded concert from Vancouver in 1959, with a simpatico but unidentified bassist and drummer. Not for the first time, I find Freeman's style hard to describe. Two-handed, even two-fisted, and rather bluesy at times, he might seem to have been inspired by Horace Silver (as the somewhat similar East Coast pianist/onetime Getz sideman John Williams certainly was), but this was Freeman's style from early on, when Horace was not well known. A link to Hampton Hawes is possible, but I think that Freeman was basically his own man. Nor, despite his presence on the West Coast, was he ever into the neo-Basie groove that so many pianist of that locale and era favored. Also -- and this album is a fine example -- Freeman was a melodist with both hands to an uncommon degree; seldom if ever do I hear that familiar right-hand single-line melody/left-hand chordal comping texture from him; rather, melodic activity not only tends to be evenly distributed between hands but also is just as likely to be both chordal and single-line in a typically dense interactive manner. That  characteristic density, if I had to pick one thing, is what makes Freeman distinctive. That he was a backer of Dick Twardzik and was responsible for Twardzik's Pacific Jazz trio date may be no accident, for Twardzik had some similar traits, though Freeman was not as overtly "far out" as Twardzik was. Another echo might be to Kenny Drew -- not of influence again but affinity, in that both men, much as they obviously admired Bud Powell, also  sound as though they were fond of boogie woogie pianism in their formative years. In any case, this is one fine record.

Thnx for taking time regarding this in-depth review - needed a "reward" this morning anyway, so my order is out ....

[JSngry]

That left hand...Al Haig, maybe? As a genesis? No?

[Larry Kart]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

That left hand...Al Haig, maybe? As a genesis? No?

But Haig didn't have any of that rumbling (perhaps updated boogie-woogie in origin, again almost literally two-fisted) attack that typifies Freeman's playing, nor the at times aggressive bluesiness/funkiness, nor IIRC does Haig set up and/or employ, as Freeman does, a sense of ongoing, edgy byplay and bounce between right and left hand activity. (Again, IIRC, with Haig the relationship between right and left hand is one of more or less seamless flow, with what figures originate where not being emphasized, even being somewhat concealed in the service of that sense of flow, while with Freeman one always knows what hand is generating what -- his is a style where he wants us to know and feel that.) Further, in case I didn't mention it above, especially on this album I'm struck by how much -- in the midst of all that density and two-handed drive -- virtually everything Freeman plays is fundamentally in-the-moment melodic, virtually no "gestural" figures, so to speak. (I should add, however, that Freeman's melodicism, attractive though it is, is notable more for its consistent flow/drive, not as with Haig or Duke Jordan, for producing shapes of jaw-dropping beauty/resolution. Again, there is, as with other aspects of Freeman's approach, something that seems a tad paradoxical here; that is, if one has that consistent a melodic gift, why does it seldom if ever reach, or reach for, what might be called a lyrical climax? Could it be a kind of insistence on "masculine" drive and forcefulness on Freeman's part, that almost-omnipresent rumble factor?) Finally, Freeman was a fine composer -- his ballad "The Wind, " for one, but the title track from this album is another handsome ballad with a strong spine, and then there's his memorable "groove" tune "Fan Tan" and others.

[JSngry]

Yeah, I was just looking for an antecedent for that type of ever-present left hand in "bop" pianists. Haig sprang to mind, but only in that sense. That was the first thing that hit me about Haig the first time I heard him, that left hand was always there, it seemed.

What do we know about Freeman's biography, was he a native Los Angelino, where did he come from, who was he in the army with, who'd he hang out with to shoot up, that kind of thing. Because I do agree that both him & Hawes do give a perception of a Silver influence, but the chronology really does cloud that issue more than just a little.
 

[Larry Kart]

Russ Freeman bio info:

 https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/aug/02/guardianobituaries.arts

http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jul/10/local/me-freeman10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvl14_6sazs

I think the missing link we’ve been puzzling over in Freeman's early formation might have been Joe Albany —certainly an interactively two-handed and aggressive player.

[JSngry]

Looks like his body aged well, a lot to be said for that.