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Don Friedman
Don Friedman was born May 4, 1935, in San Francisco. His parents loved classical music and they owned a piano. Under their guidance, Don started playing at age four. He began lessons at five with a private teacher named Katherine Swint. Though he had no exposure to jazz at this time Don taught himself to improvise.
When he was 15, his family moved to the San Fernando Valley in Greater Los Angeles. Two years later he began to head regularly for the Hollywood Palladium to hear the bands of Les Brown, Stan Kenton and Billy May. That fueled his love for jazz. Kenton soloists Lee Konitz, Conte Condoli, and Frank Rossolino inspired Don as he transformed his focus from classical music to jazz.
Don studied jazz at Los Angeles City College and also on his own by playing along with records of Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins and Miles Davis. By the mid 1950s L.A. was the capital of West Coast Jazz and Don was becoming part of it as he worked around town with groups that included Shorty Rogers, Chet Baker, Ornette Coleman, and Scott LaFaro.
At the same time, he displayed his hard bop credentials by gigging with Dexter Gordon. He made his first records as a sideman with trumpeters Hank DeMano and Jack Millman. In 1956 Buddy DeFranco hired him for a tour that included gigs at New York’s Birdland and Basin Street.
The DeFranco tour was a turning point, and the experience convinced Don in 1958 to leave California for New York. He thrived in Manhattan’s great and diverse jazz scene of that time. He played with most of the major players and his reputation began to build as a pianist who was going places.
At about the same time, the legendary bass player Scott LaFaro also moved to New York. The two had become close in Los Angeles and now formed a legendary partnership as roommates, friends and fellow jazz pioneers.
During this period in New York City Don played in many settings, including his own trio and with artists such as Pepper Adams, Booker Little, Jimmy Giuffre, Charles Lloyd, Chuck Wayne, Elvin Jones and Herbie Mann.
He initially recorded as a leader for producer Orrin Keepnews at Riverside records from 1961 through 1964. His first three LPs were with his trio. German guitarist Attila Zoller, a close friend, was featured on the fourth. These records were highly acclaimed: three won five stars in Down Beat (its top rating), while the fourth earned four stars. By 1965 Friedman had been named a New Star in Down Beat's annual Critics' Poll.
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Heiner Stadler: Brains on Fire
by Howard Mandel
Brains on Fire fuels reflection on the past and response in the present. These eight extraordinary extended tracks, recorded in unusual conjunctions of master jazz improvisers instigated by composer/pianist Heiner Stadler for sessions held from 1966 through 1974, are alive with the passions of that era celebrating large, original works stretching the bounds of even the most ambitious music come before. As Stadler and his cadre of fully collaborative, creative interpreters brought immense smarts, skills and sensibilities besides ...
Continue ReadingHeiner Stadler: Brains on Fire
by AAJ Italy Staff
Heiner Stadler è nome pressoché sconosciuto se non agli addetti ai lavori o a qualche curioso appassionato jazzofilo. Nasce nel 1942 a Lessen in Polonia, cresce ad Amburgo dove studia pianoforte, armonia e composizione al conservatorio, per poi trasferirsi nel 1965 a New York. Qui intesse una serie di relazioni con importanti musicisti dal background assai variegato (si va sa Benny Golson a Barre Phillips, da Joe Chambers a John Gilmore e Joe Farrell, da Dee Dee Bridgewater a Thad ...
Continue ReadingHeiner Stadler: Brains on Fire
by Hrayr Attarian
Heiner StadlerBrains on FireLabor Records2012One of the most exciting reissues of the first quarter of 2012 is composer and pianist Heiner Stadler's pioneering Brains on Fire, originally released in 1973. The two-CD reissue adds three lengthy, previously unreleased tracks and informative and well-researched liner notes by critic Howard Mandel. Interestingly, Stadler occupies the piano chair only on five of the eight pieces, recorded over a seven-year span in a ...
Continue ReadingDon Friedman: Waltz For Marilyn
by Andrey Henkin
Don Friedman Waltz For Marilyn Jazz Excursion Records 2007
In jazz, for all of its love of the all-star session, the long-term collaboration is of utmost importance. There have been many such relationships: bassist Charles Mingus and reed player Eric Dolphy, saxophonist John Coltrane and drummer Elvin Jones, trumpeter Miles Davis and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. When players reach a level of understanding, notions of leaders and sidemen or soloists and accompanists become ...
Continue ReadingDon Friedman: Waltz for Marilyn
by Samuel Chell
The impressive vita and discography of Don Friedman are but touchstones to the musicianship of this pianist who, like Kenny Barron and Hank Jones, navigates the jazz mainstream while remaining perpetually fresh if not cutting edge. On Waltz for Marilyn the seasoned veteran is joined by three like-minded, proven young musicians who bring the leader's conceptions to realization while making strong statements of their own. It's as though the pianist's flowing inventiveness has been magnified by four.
The program is ...
Continue ReadingIn the Belly of the Beast: The Story of a Recording Session
by Victor L. Schermer
It is no coincidence that jazz emerged around the same time that Edison invented the phonograph. Both jazz and recording by electrical impulses were among the early signs of “modernity. Furthermore, jazz is an improvisational form of music that is composed as it is performed, and, unlike classical music with its well-tempered scale and relatively uniform standards, jazz is almost impossible to notate in more than its barest outlines. The only viable way to preserve it is on recordings. Recordings ...
Continue ReadingDon Friedman & Gary Smulyan Play Hot and Cool Together
by Daniel Kassell
Don Friedman Trio with Gary Smulyan Kitano Lounge New York, NY March 9, 2007
Without any fanfare Don Friedman's piano a cappella intro to “Alone Together intricately established the melody and sequence of his first performance on Friday the 9th of March 2007 before the evening's lead instrument, an antique green-tinged brass saxophone played by the youthful Gary Smulyan--bespeckled above, soul patch below and wearing a beret on top--stood in the piano curve ...
Continue ReadingAttila Zoller and Don Friedman
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Attila Zoller is another guitarist who's fame has unfairly faded with time among jazz fans. Like guitarist Gabor Szabo, Zoller was a Hungarian refugee who escaped Soviet invasion. He found his way to Austria in 1948 and moved to the U.S. in 1959 to perform, record and teach. He also had enormous influence over the jazz fusion movement that would start in the late 1960s and flower in the '70s. Among his many fascinating avant-garde albums were three recorded with ...
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Passings: Friedman, Jones, Thompson
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Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
The generations move on. It’s a sad part of an observer’s task to acknowledge the deaths of musicians who made important contributions. Pianist Don Friedman died of pancreatic cancer at home in New York City on June 30. He was 81. Friedman was treasured by fellow musicians for the subtlety and strength of his support as an accompanist and for the daring ingenuity of his harmonies. He was equally at home with traditionalist Bobby Hackett; modern mainstreamers Clark Terry, Chet ...
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Don Friedman (1935-2016)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Don Friedman, a jazz pianist with enormous sensitivity and avant-garde curiosity who shared an introspective style similar to Bill Evans but tended to be more experimental and jagged with shades of Bud Powell in the trio and solo formats, died June 30. He was 81. Don grew up in San Francisco and studied formally starting at age 4. He moved to Los Angeles with his family when he was 15, fully expecting to become a classical pianist. But the following ...
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Interview: Don Friedman (Part 2)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Don Friedman was born and raised on the West Coast but in the late 1950s he became one of a handful of California jazz musicians who relocated to the East Coast. When he arrived in New York in 1957, Don found an apartment and roomed with bassist Scott LaFaro, whom he already had known from the West Coast. Don played clubs in the city, and after a few years came to the attention of producer Orrin Keepnews at Riverside Records. ...
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Interview: Don Friedman (Part 1)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Pianist Don Friedman arrived on the New York scene just as Bill Evans was making his mark as a solo player. Both were classically trained, both had similar sounds, and both played and recorded with bassist Scott LaFaro. But where Bill was Euro-centric, influenced primarily by George Russell and relatively conservative in his approach, Don was more experimental and had more Bud Powell and Red Garland in his attack. While Don's style and sound was close to Evans', he favored ...
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Free Download from Bassoon And Beyond featuring Daniel Smith + Live Appearance w/the Don Friedman Trio Tuesday, July 11th @ 8:00 PM St. Peter's Church
Source:
All About Jazz
Free Download
This message is to let you know that the following track is now being featured as a Download of the Day at AllAboutJazz.com “Killer Joe" by Daniel Smith
More details here: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/jazzdownload.php?id=1453
CD Release Event Tuesday, July 11 8:00 PM One Set from 8:00 TO 9:00 St. Peter's Church 619 Lexington Ave (E.54TH ST) 212 935-2200 $15.00 ($10.00 for students) ...
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Don Friedman Trio @ Marie's Thurs June 16th 9:00 PM-12:30 AM
Source:
All About Jazz
Don Friedman's 70th Birthday Celebration at Kitano Fri./Sat./Sun. May 6 thg 8 Sets at 8 & 9:45 PM
Source:
All About Jazz
The Don Friedman Trio at The Jazz Standard March 4-5-6
Source:
All About Jazz
Don FriedmanTrio at the JAZZ STANDARD 116 E. 27th Street - Between Lexington & Park Reservations: 212-576-2232 Friday March 4, 2005 Saturday March 5, 2005 7:30 PM, 9:30 PM & 11:30 PM Sunday March 6, 2005 7:30 PM & 9:30 PM Don Friedman - Piano Martin Wind - Bass Tony Jefferson - Drums “Technically Friedman boasts the chops of Ahmad Jamal, the elegance of Tommy Flanagan, the poetry of Bill Evans and the imagination of Keith Jarrett" ... Jazz Times ...
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The Don Friedman Trio at The Jazz Standard Thrusday Nov 6th Sets AT 7:30PM & 9:30PM
Source:
All About Jazz
Thursday Nov 6th, 2003 The Don Friedman Trio Featuring Buster Williams on bass and Billy Drummond on drums at The Jazz Standard 116 East 27th St. (btw. Park & Lexington Avs.) 212-576-2232 Sets AT 7:30PM & 9:30PM
Performing music from his new CD Waltz For Debby 441 Records | http://www.441records.com
About Don Friedman In his long and respected career, pianist Don Friedman ...
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