Highly skilled in a variety of jazz styles, tenor saxophonist Chico Freeman has
made a career of celebrating jazz’s history and teaming with some of its
brightest stars. Born Earl Lavon Freeman Jr. in Chicago on July 17, 1949,
Freeman is the son of avant-garde jazz musician Von Freeman. The younger Freeman
played the trumpet for most of his upbringing, but switched to tenor sax during
his education at Northwestern University.
Freeman’s career led him to collaborate with several significant figures,
including Sam Rivers, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, and Dizzy Gillespie. Like his ...