Been listening again, and quite a bit, to Friedman's rather remarkable (IMO) 60s recordings: all the Riversides through the lone Prestige date (METAMORPHOSIS) and the collaborations with Giuffre and A. Zoller.
Quite a journey; quite an arc (if the LPs made a movie).
It seems to me that Friedman embraced "freedom" like no other pianist of his time. I wish I had the technical musical know-how (and vocabulary) to describe what I mean. But what I *think* is that Friedman is ultimately really Evans-like (the pianist to whom he is most frequently compared... though isn't that true of most Caucasian pianists who show even the slightest lyrical tendency?) by virtue of his grounding in Tristano, and that, as the decade progresses, there's more and more Coltrane in his approach -- I keep coming back to his rendition of "I Hear a Rhapsody", from CIRCLE WALTZ -- though in a Larry Young rather than McCoy Tyner kind of way. But there's much else there to hear as well.
And he's still playing at a high, high level. Witness this recent recording, a reunion of the trio with Chuck Israels and Joe Hunt that recorded his DAY IN THE CITY suite nearly 50 years previous (!)
http://www.cdbaby.co...donfriedmantrio
If you don't know his work, more info can be found here: http://www.donfriedman.net/
And, if you do, please share your thoughts, reflections, stories, etc.