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LÉGENDES DU JAZZ

CHICO FREEMAN, L’EXPLORATEUR

"My goal is to explore new worlds, and I don't want to be limited by categories. I don't want to be told that I can't go into other categories. The only limitations I place on myself are the limitations I place on my own imagination. And within that realm, there are none."

- Chico Freeman

Né le 17 juillet 1949 à Chicago, dans les Illinois, Earl Lavon ‘’Chico’’ Freeman Jr. est issu d’une famille de musiciens. Fils du légendaire saxophoniste ténor Von Freeman, Freeman est aussi le neveu du guitariste George Freeman et du batteur Bruz Freeman. Chico avait d’abord commencé par prendre des cours de piano lorsque son frère Everett avait découvert une série d’instruments au sous-sol de la maison familiale, dont une trompette. Freeman expliquait: ‘’One time, my brother and I went searching in the basement through my dad’s old Navy stuff that he’d packed away. We found a trumpet and a saxophone. My brother took the saxophone and I took the trumpet. When my dad told the story he would say the sounds we made were “bleep” and “blat” because we were trying to play something. Anyway, he came down and saw the mess we made. Because of that, I ended up joining the school band on trumpet. At the same time I was singing in groups, trying to sound like the Drifters and Motown, things like that. The Temptations were my all-time favorite group, so I kept joining singing groups all through grammar and high school.’’

Décrivant ses débuts dans la musique, Freeman avait poursuivi:

‘’When I was young we had lots of kids on my block. We had one family with fifteen kids, which was great because you hardly had to leave the block to play. During summer, my dad would have rehearsals. He had the piano in the living room, so when on the front porch you could sit and actually look inside the house through the window and see the piano. I remember seeing people like Leroy Vinnegar, Malachi Favors and Andrew Hill. Other Chicago musicians would come and play with the Freeman Brothers band. The band included my uncle George on guitar and my uncle Bruz on drums. They’d set up in the living room and have a rehearsal. We’d have all the windows open because we didn’t have air conditioning and they would start playing. Within minutes, the front porch was filled with kids; we’d have a big party outside with all my friends. The funny thing is, Richard Davis, the bass player, lived across the street from us, and down the street was Frank Leslie, whose auntie was Abbey Lincoln from Chicago. There was always somebody famous hanging around the house. I was just used to musicians coming over. It was really fun. They were just people that I knew as a kid, with my brother and two sisters at the time. That’s what my dad did. My mom took me to the Regal Theater when I was five––it was kind of like the Apollo of Chicago. She took me to see my dad play with Miles Davis, and that was the band with Coltrane, “Cannonball” and Paul Chambers. I remember him standing next to Miles and Coltrane, playing. I’ll never forget that; I can see it clear as day. Ironically, John Coltrane died on my birthday, so there’s kind of a connection there that’s really unique.’’

Inspiré par l’oeuvre de Miles Davis, et plus particulièrement par l’album Kind of Blue (1959), Freeman avait commencé à apprendre la trompette. Freeman explique comment il avait découvert Davis:

‘’Then I got excited when I discovered Miles’ Kind of Blue album. I thought it was great and remember taking the record to the classical trumpet player. I thought he’d be thrilled about it, but he was a harsh critic of Miles and said, “Oh, he doesn’t play in tune; he’s cracking a lot of notes.” You know, for him, Miles wasn’t “great”—I was crushed. [laughs] I did like this guy, but I couldn’t get Miles out of my head as far as the trumpet. His sound and his choice of notes just got to me. It was going to be very hard for me to be original, because there were no other trumpet players I found on a high enough level for me. So, instead, for two weeks I practiced tenor sax. That was it for me––I realized I should’ve been playing the saxophone years earlier.’’

Son père achetant très peu de disques car il ne désirait pas que son fils soit trop influencé et puisse développer son propre style, Freeman avait poursuivi son apprentissage avec un de ses amis. Il poursuivait:

‘’Then I went to one of my friend’s, Soji Adebayo (Anthony Porter’s) house––his father had an incredible wall-to-wall jazz collection in his living room. The funny thing was, this introduced me to the music of Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy and guys like that. Later on I was introduced to Coltrane’s music, even though I already knew of Coltrane when I saw my dad playing with him. But it was Soji and his father who really pulled me to the records, because my dad didn’t have a lot of records––he was practicing all of the time and not really listening to music. When you’re growing up listening and learning to play and really getting into it, you do a lot of listening. But once you start playing and the artist in you kicks in, you do less listening because you’re trying to be original and don’t want to be too overly influenced. I think that’s where my dad was at that point. I’m sure he kept up with what things people were doing, but he was about being an original, so he didn’t buy a lot of records. I didn’t grow up in my house listening to them. The audience has the time to sit back and listen to those kinds of recordings. Artists have to shape their craft and forge their voice.’’

On ignore souvent qu’avant d’adopter le saxophone, Freeman avait d’abord voulu être chanteur. Il précisait: ‘’Having all this music around me did create a desire to be in the industry, but at first I wanted to do it as a singer. In grammar school, I was always in the talent shows and school plays and concerts, and I sang in the choir. I started taking piano lessons when I was five.’’ Très bon à l’école, Freeman avait décroché une bourse pour aller étudier les mathématiques à l’Université Northwestern en 1967. Décrivant son séjour à Northwestern, Freeman avait précisé:

‘’I received a scholarship to Northwestern in mathematics because I was good at math. That’s how I got into Northwestern. My life took a big change when I got there. I joined the marching band. They wanted you to have some kind of athletic endeavor and, surprisingly, the marching band was considered athletic, so I joined. The other interesting thing was I played basketball. In the marching band I played trumpet, and because it was a Big Ten school and I got to do a lot of traveling. We’d march during halftime at football games, so that was fun! Then I decided I was going to go into computer programing as well. They gave you two directions you could go in mathematics: the more practical direction as an engineer or a similar career, or a more theoretical route. I got excited over the theoretical things because that was stuff that ultimately shaped the future of space travel and other things. Mathematics is far ahead of science. Science discovers areas that will become future uses for mathematics, but science is still behind math. I was actually recruited by the space program. They wanted me to come down and join them at Cape Canaveral and work when I graduated. Because I was in programing, IBM tried to recruit me as well, and another company at that time, Data Control. Three companies were romancing me.’’

En plus d’avoir joué de la trompette dans le groupe de jazz de l’université, Freeman s’était joint aux jam sessions de son père au club Betty Lou's de Chicago. Freeman avait commencé à s’intéresser au saxophone ténor durant son année junior à l’université. Passionné par son nouvel instrument, Freeman avait commencé à pratiquer de huit à dix heures par jour jusqu’à ce qu’il soit suffisamment sûr de ses capacités pour occuper une place dans la section des saxophones. Après avoir assuré son poste avec le groupe, Freeman avait abandonné ses études en mathématiques et s’était inscrit au programme de musique. Freeman avait obtenu un diplôme en musique 1972, avec une spécialisation en saxophone, en trompette et en piano. Freeman explique comment il avait décidé d’abandonner les mathématiques en faveur de la musique:

‘’The music bug bit me. And with Fred’s encouragement, I decided to go into the music school. I joined the band on trumpet—a concert band, not the marching band. I wanted to transfer into the School of Music at Northwestern, but I did keep a minor in mathematics. In music education, you had to learn something about each instrument so you could teach it. I was in the woodwind class. I picked the alto saxophone because it was available. One-quarter of the class was playing the alto just to learn about it, and I really liked it. I had to give the horn back at the end of the class, and when I was putting it back in the closet I saw a tenor saxophone in there. It was spring break, so I asked the teacher if I could take the tenor home for the next two weeks and play it. Everyone else in the class was going to Florida, but I decided to stay in Evanston and practice ten to twelve hours every day. The tenor sax just seemed like it was my voice.’’

Déterminer à faire carrière comme saxophoniste, Freeman était allé voir le directeur du groupe de l’université et lui avait demandé la permission de laisser tomber la trompette pour le saxophone. Freeman poursuivait:

‘’After the two weeks I went to the concert band director and said, “I’d like to join the concert band.” His name was Tex Suthers—he was from Texas or something—and looked at me like I was crazy. He said, “You’re already in the band.” I said, “Yeah, but I want to join the band on saxophone.” He looked at me again and said, “How long have you been playing saxophone?” I said, “Two weeks.” He got really angry! He said, “Are you crazy? This is Northwestern University—these people have been playing for years and you think you can come here in two weeks…?!” And blah, blah, blah. Oh, he just really went off on me. I wasn’t sure if he was angry or maybe he had a little racism in him, but he wasn’t happy. I told him, “You’re right, but the truth is you have to give me an audition. You can say no, but you can’t deny me the audition.” He agreed and I auditioned. And, to his surprise, I passed the audition. He was shocked, and I joined the band on tenor saxophone. Of course, now I’m in the school and my instrument is saxophone, so I have to join a saxophone quartet. I studied with a teacher named Fred Hemke—great guy. Rico even named a reed after him: the Hemke Reed for soprano. So I began playing classical music on tenor and then one day I went down to see my dad.’’ (à l’époque, Von ne savait pas encore que son fils avait abandonné la trompette pour le saxophone).

C’est durant ses études à Northwestern que Freeman était entré en contact avec l’Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) pour la première fois. Freeman expliquait:

‘’After I graduated, Fred told Adegoke and me about Muhal, so we went down to join the AACM. I started attending the AACM School of Music and studying composition and music with Muhal. I became a part of his big band and met George Lewis, Anthony Braxton, Amina Claudine Meyers, Gerald Donovan, Donald Myrick, Louis Satterfield and Michael Harris, who ultimately became the horn section for Earth, Wind & Fire. I got involved playing blues, fusion with Kestutis Stanciauskas, who led the band Street Dancer. I was playing everything I could. I met Buddy Guy and played with Jesus Wayne, and we opened for Earth, Wind & and Fire. I was having a great time. I was also finishing up my degree at Northwestern in music education and had to choose where to do my student teaching. Willie Pickens was teaching at Phillips High School, so I went down there and became his student. I watched my dad play with Willie and his friends, Jodie Christian and John Young.’’

Dans une autre entrevue, Freeman avait précisé:

‘’It’s interesting, because that’s the time I met Fred Anderson. Adegoke Steve Colson, Neil Tesser and I were in school together at Northwestern. Adegoke and I met Fred, and he sort of took us under his wing there in Evanston. He started a chapter of the AACM up there, and that’s how I met Billy Brimfield, Hamid Drake and Gene Anderson, Fred’s son. We used to hang at Fred’s and he’d play Charlie Parker records. Sometimes we would spend the night and sleep on the floor after listening to music, playing and practicing on the weekends or whenever. The three of us started a band, Life and Death Situation, and we had a drummer named Anthony (Tony) Boykins. Adegoke was on piano and I was playing trumpet, but I also began playing saxophone at that time. I was starting to take trips to the South Side to hang with my dad at the jam sessions. I’d just go down there and listen to Clifford Jordan, Sonny Rollins and John Stubblefield. They would come into the Jazz Showcase, and if they had time they’d hang out with my dad at the jam sessions. I met a lot of people down there and would hang out at the sessions with Jesse Taylor and Jordan, you know, Chicago guys who were in town. That’s when I started really getting into it.’’

Parallèlement à ses études, Freeman avait également joué avec des groupes de blues, de R & B et de pop. Il avait également étudié la composition avec le pianiste d’avant-garde Muhal Richard Abrams. C’est en travaillant avec Abrams que Freeman avait décidé de former ses propres groupes. Freeman ecpliquait:

‘’Muhal encouraged it. I studied composition with Muhal; I also took Composition at Northwestern. I had Music Theory with this guy Carlin–– Neil Tesser was in that class. I always had an interest in writing my own music, even when I was studying piano. I made some attempts––I wrote one song for this girl I had a crush on. I was a romantic! [laughs]. Muhal had a strong influence on me. I studied with him at AACM and I’d also go to his house where he had a piano in the basement. That’s when he introduced me to the music of historical people like James P. Johnson and others. I didn’t know anything about those guys. They were very influential to Muhal, so it was amazing for me to hear them. He did a lot of what Fred did for me—taking me back to Charlie Parker. But Muhal took me back and showed me compositions and how they wrote them. He had his own system of writing, which I adopted. I had music that I wanted to play so I would start my own band. The best way to get your music played was to create your own group and circumstances. It’s always been my way, even when I got to New York.’’

Après avoir décroché son diplôme à Northwestern, Freeman était devenu professeur à l’école de l’AACM. Le rôle de l’école était d’aider les jeunes musiciens à présenter et à faire la promotion de leur propre musique en empruntant des moyens non traditionnels. Tout en enseignant au niveau élémentaire et intermédiaire, Freeman avait poursuivi ses propres études à la Governor's State University où il avait obtenu une maîtrise en composition et en théorie musicale. Freeman se produisait avec le Governor's State Jazz Band dans le cadre de l’Intercollegiate Jazz Festival à South Bend, en Indiana, lorsqu’il avait remporté les prix de meilleur soliste et de meilleur saxophoniste. Sa victoire lui avait également donné la chance de faire une tournée au Brésil avec le groupe gagnant du festival en 1976.

DÉBUTS DE CARRIÈRE

Même s’il avait été exposé au jazz dès son plus jeune âge, Freeman avait amorcé sa carrière dans les clubs de Chicago en accompagnant des artistes de blues comme Memphis Slim et Lucky Carmichael. Freeman avait fait ses débuts sur disque en avril 1975 sur Rising, le second album du groupe Streetdancer, dirigé par le bassiste Kestutis Stanciauskas.

En septembre 1976, Freeman avait publié un premier album comme leader intitulé Morning Prayer. L’album avait été enregistré avec un septet comprenant Freeman au saxophone ténor et soprano, à la flûte et à la flûte de pan, Henry Threadgill au saxophone alto et baryton et à la flûte, Douglas Ewart à la flûte, Muhal Richard Abrams au piano, Cecil McBee à la contrebasse, Steve McCall à la batterie et Ben Montgomery aux percussions. L’album comprenait trois compositions de Freeman: ‘’Morning Prayer’’, ’’Pepe's Samba’’ et ‘’Like The Kind Of Peace It Is.’’

Freeman s’était installé à New York en 1977. Il précisait:

‘’I had a little bit of preparation. After I graduated school I went to a concert/club in Evanston, Illinois where Charles Mingus was playing. I remember seeing Charles and he had Don Pullen in his band, Danny Richmond on drums, Jack Walrath on trumpet and George Adams on saxophone. Mingus was one of the first people my friend had introduced me to so I went there and just wanted to play with Mingus. I went up to Charles and said, “Mr. Mingus, could I please sit in with you?” He said, “Yes, it’s okay with me, but you have to ask George.” I thought, You know. He’s respectful, I was impressed. I went up to George Adams and said, “Mr. Adams, sir. Could I please sit in with you? Mr. Mingus said it’s okay if it’s alright with you.” George said, “Yeah, sure, come on.” I get in there and I’m hoping that Mingus is going to play the blues or something. He pulls out one of his compositions, which seems like it spans five music stands. [laughs] Afterwards, I was happy and thanked George and went to talk to Mingus. He was sitting in his chair and I said, “Thank you, Mr. Mingus. I really appreciate it,” I started to walk away and he said, “Hey. You should come to New York. We play Boomers every Saturday. When you get there, look me up.” That gave me a little bit of courage for the future.’’

Décrivant ses débuts à New York, Freeman avait commenté:

‘’I had great success in New York. I played with Sun Ra, then joined Elvin Jones and recorded with him. I also played with Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition for five years. I played with McCoy Tyner as well for 5 years. Elvin gave me my first record. I then met Bob Cummings with India Navigation, and then hooked up with Don Pullen again and became part of Don Pullen’s band, Warriors. I later started the band The Leaders, and Don Pullen was the first piano player of that band, along with Don Cherry on trumpet, Arthur Blythe on alto saxophone, Cecil McBee on bass and Famadou Don Moye on drums. I got a chance to work with all my heroes, of the John Coltrane Quartet including Reggie Workman. The only person I didn’t get to work with was Jimmy Garrison because he had already passed away.’’

Freeman avait été très influencé par Jones ainsi que par le pianiste McCoy Tyner. Il précisait:

‘’Elvin was a great influence, and to this day he’s my favorite all-time drummer. The way he plays behind the beat is so relaxed. He never rehearsed, so it was a completely different thing. In Chicago, the guys were always rehearsing. When I got to Elvin I was thinking, Man, we should be rehearsing. I even tried to influence Elvin and asked him when we were going to have rehearsal. He just looked at me and I thought I was going to get fired. [rires] Elvin taught me a lot and shocked me and changed my viewpoint about things, and so did McCoy.’’

À New York, Freeman s’était produit avec de grands noms du jazz comme Elvin Jones, Sun Ra, Jack DeJohnette, le big band de Sam Rivers, Mickey Bass, John Stubblefield, Cecil McBee et Don Pullen. Il avait également dirigé ses propres groupes, ce qui l’avait aidé à développer son propre style.

L’année 1977 avait une année très productive pour Freeman et avait donné lieu à la publication de quatre albums. Il avait d’abord enregistré Chico, un album plutôt ambitieux qui comprenait essentiellement une suite en trois mouvements de vingt-quatre minutes intitulée ‘’Moments’’, un duo avec le contrebassiste Cecil McBee et une improvisation de seize minutes intitulée Merger qui mettait en vedette McBeee, Abrams, McCall et le percussionniste Tito Sampa. En juin de la même année, Freeman avait publié l’album No Time Left avec un quartet qui comprenait Jay Hoggard au vibraphone, Rick Rozie à la basse et Don Moye à la batterie. On retrouvait sur l’album deux autres compositions de longue durée: No Time Left et Uhmla. Le même mois, Freeman avait publié Beyond the Rain, avec un quintet qui incluait Hilton Ruiz au piabo et Elvin Jones à la batterie. Enfin, en septembre 1977, Freeman avait publié ce qui était sans doute un de ses meilleurs albums, Kings of Mali, avec un quintet qui comprenait Hoggard au vibraphone, Anthony Davis au piano, McBee à la contrebasse et Moye à la batterie. Fidèle à son habitude, l’album comprenait quatre longues compositions de Freeman. Poursuivant sur sa lancée, Freeman avait publié l’album The Outside Within en 1978, qui comprenait une longue composition de dix-neuf minutes de McBee intitulée ‘’The Undercurrent.’’ L’album avait été enregistré avec un quartet formé de John Hicks au piano, de McBee à la contrebasse et de Jack De Johnette à la batterie. L’album avait remporté le prix de l’album de l’année décervé par le magazine Stereo Review. Freeman avait enchaîné en octobre de la même année avec Spirit Sensitive, un album de ballades qui avait été enregistré avec un quartet composé de Hicks, McBee et Moye.

L’interaction entre la couleur et la mélodie était le thème de l’album Peaceful Heart Gentle Spirit. Publié en mars 1980, l’album avait été enregistré avec un octet comprenant James Newton à la flûte, Kenny Kirkland au piano, Jay Hoggard au vibraphone, au violoncelle et à la contrebasse. On retrouvait sur l’album d’anciennes compositions de Freeman en plus de ses nouvelles créations Peaceful Heart Gentle Spirit et Nina's Song Dance.

Adoptant une approche néo-traditionnaliste, Freeman avait publié en juin 1980 l’album The Search avec un groupe composé du pianiste Kenny Barron, de McBee à la contrebasse, de Hoggard au vibaphone, de Billy Hart à la batterie, de Nana Vasconcelos aux percussions et de Val Eley au chant. Publié en octobre 1981, l’album Destiny's Dance mettait en vedette le trompettiste Wynton Marsalis et le vibraphoniste Bobby Hutcherson. L’album avait été suivi par Tradition in Transition (septembre 1982), Tangents (en janvier 1984 avec le chanteur Bobby McFerrin, les saxophonistes John Purcell et Steve Coleman) et The Pied Piper (en septembre 1984 avec de nouveau Purcell au saxophone et Elvin Jones à la batterie). En octobre 1987, Freeman avait également publié Lord Riff And Me, un album en quintet mettant en vedette George Cables au piano, McBee à la contrebasse et Billy Hart à la batterie.

Freeman, qui est aussi professeur, avait fait des lectures pour Jazz in the Classroom de 1980 à 1989. Freeman a aussi donné des cours d’improvisation dans le cadre du programme de jazz et de musique contemporaine de la New School University de New York en 1999.

Il a également siégé sur des comités du National Endowment for the Arts de 1979 à 1982. En juin 1982, Freeman avait également participé à un concert au Lincoln Center avec les The Young Lions, un groupe qui comprenait plusieurs artistes émergents des années 1980 comme Wynton Marsalis, Paquito D'Rivera, Kevin Eubanks, Bobby McFerrin et Anthony Davis. Le groupe avait éventuellement enregistré un album qui comprenait une composition de quatorze minutes de Freeman intitulée "Whatever Happened to the Dream Deferred.’’

En 1989, Freeman avait formé un groupe tout-étoile appelé The Leaders. Le sextet comprenait des musiciens sommités du jazz comme Kirk Lightsey au piano, Lester Bowie à la trompette, Arthur Blythe au saxophone alto, l’incontournable Cecil McBee à la contrebasse et Famadou Don Moye à la batterie et aux percussions. Dans le cadre du concert, Freeman avait joué du saxophone ténor, du saxophone soprano et de la clarinette. Freeman avait enregistré cinq albums avec le groupe: Mudfoot (juin 1986), Out Here Like This (février 1987), Unforeseen Blessings (décembre 1988), Slipping and Sliding (1994) et Spirits Alike (2007).

Toujours en 1989, Freeman avait formé un groupe de jazz-fusion appelé Brainstorm. Symbiose de pop-jazz, de musique du monde et de hip hop, le groupe, qui était composé de Delmar Brown aux claviers et au chant, de Chris Walker à la basse, de Norman Hedman aux percussions et d’Archie Walker à la batterie, avait enregistré trois albums: The Mystical Dreamer (mai 1989), Sweet Explosion (avril 1990) et Threshold (1993).

ÉVOLUTION RÉCENTE

Au début des années 1990, Freeman avait participé à plusieurs publicités télévisées, notamment pour les entreprises Burger King et Polaroid.

Dans le cadre du 150e anniversaire de l’invention du saxophone par Adolphe Sax en 1991, Freeman avait également fait partie du groupe Roots, qui regroupait d’autres saxophonistes émérites comme Nathan Davis, Benny Golson, Sam Rivers, Arthur Blythe. La section rythmique était composée de Don Pullen au piano, de Buster Williams à la contrebasse et de Winard Harper à la batterie. Le groupe avait enregistré quatre albums: Salutes the Saxophone, un hommage à John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins et Lester Young (octobre 1991), Stablemates (décembre 1992), Say Something (1995) et For Diz & Bird (2000). Le meilleur album de Freeman dans les années 1990 était probablement Focus (mai 1994), qui avait été enregistré avec un quintet composé de George Cables au piano et d’Arthur Blythe au saxophone alto.

En 1998, Freeman avait également entrepris une carrière de producteur en collaborant à la publication de l’album NightSong d’Arthur Blythe. Il avait aussi travaillé sur des pièces de théâtre avec le dramaturge Ntozake Shange et le danseur de claquettes Savion Glover.

Au début des années 2000, Freeman s’était installé en Europe et avait commencé à expérimenter avec différents musiciens et avec différentes cultures. Comme Freeman l’avait expliqué lui-même: “As much as I’ve travelled and on the road playing with such masters as McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Jack DeJohnette, Sam Rivers, Sun Ra, Dizzy Gillespie and so many jazz greats, as well as leading my own groups including founding “The Leaders” and the group “Roots,” an inner voice was telling me, you need to go to another level both musically and personally. You need to work with other musicians from different cultures and create new avenues of expression.’’

En 2002, Freeman avait été choisi parmi plus de deux cents candidats et était devenu un des vingt artistes à participer à la création d’une installation multimédia à Engine 27, une salle de concert expérimentale de New York. Durant la même période, Freeman avait également formé le groupe Guataca, un ensemble afro-cubain qui jouait une musique influencée par les rythmes latins, les traditions africaines et le hip-hop. Le groupe était composé de Hilton Ruiz au piano, de Ruben Rodriguez à la basse, de Yoron Israel à la batterie et de Giovanni Hidalgo aux congas et aux percussions. Le groupe avait publié l’album Oh, By the Way en 2001. Comme on pouvait le lire sur le site officiel de Freeman, "What I did with this album is utilize elements of jazz, R&B, and hip-hop on an Afro-Cuban basis, with a flamenco and middle-eastern flavor.’’

Après avoir passé près de douze ans en Europe, Freeman était retourné à New York anxieux de reprendre sa collaboration avec des musiciens américains. Il expliquait:

‘’I lived in Europe approximately twelve years––went to Greece then moved to Switzerland. Even though I am back in the States and living in New York, I still have my place in Switzerland, but my main focus is being in New York. I moved back because I wanted to bring all of the playing and traveling experiences I’ve had over the years back to the States with me and get back to my roots and incorporate it all together into my playing again. I also miss playing with American musicians. I really wanted to play again with American drummers, bass players, rhythm sections and wanted to reconnect with the blues and some of the other cultural staples music here has given to the world. I felt it was time to come back to my roots again. Since I’ve been back, the changes I’ve noticed in the music scene are good, particularly with the musicians themselves. I’ve noticed there are more females in music that can really play. I’ve also noticed musicians are more inclusive in general—black and white players are playing together much more than they did before I left. I also see so many gifted young players. We’ve lost a lot of great musicians and I just find it unfortunate because some of the young musicians won’t have the opportunity to apprentice from the bandstand like I was able to do with Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Art Blakey and others. I hope I can supply some part of that by being back home.’’

En 2010, Freeman avait publié l’album The Essence of Silence, qui avait été suivi en 2012 d’une collaboration avec le batteur Elvin Jones intitulée Elvin: The Elvin Jones Project. Ce dernier album avait été enregistré avec une section rythmique composée de George Cables au piano, de Lonnie Plaxico à la contrebasse et de Winard Harper à la batterie. Le saxophoniste Joe Lovano avait également participé à deux pièces de l’album. Le groupe interprétait un répertoire souvent associé à Jones. Le batteur avait commencé à collaborer avec Freeman peu après qu’il se soit installé à New York en 1976. En 1978, Jones avait également produit le troisième album de Freeman comme leader, Beyond The Rain sur étiquette Contemporary Records.

Freeman a enregistré une douzaine d’albums sous son nom au cours de sa carrière, dont Morning Prayer (1976), The Outside Within (1978), Spirit Sensitive (1979), No Time Left (1979), Peaceful Heart Gentle Spirit (1980), Freeman & Freeman (enregistré avec son père Von en 1981), Destiny's Dance (1981), Tradition in Transition (1982) et The Search (1982). Le dernier album de Freeman intitulé Spoken Into Existence (2015) explorait différents styles musicaux du hip hop au funk en passant par le le bebop, le blues et intégrait même des mélodies d’origine africaine et asiatique. Il expliquait:

“First comes expression, and when you find yourself in need of being able to express more, you develop the technique in order to accomplish that objective.” Très influencé par le saxophoniste ténor Gene Ammons, Freeman avait ajouté: ‘’One of my favorite saxophone players is Gene Ammons. Boy, he can play a slow blues. Everybody could play slow blues in Chicago back then, and so could I, but I had never recorded a slow blues. I thought, Wow. I can’t believe I never did that. I didn’t realize this at first. So, all the other things were kind of personal things I wanted to do and say with Spoken Into Existence. That’s kind of the significance of the title.’’

Musicien polyvalent et très éclectique, Freeman s’est produit et a enregistré dans une grande variété de styles, de la musique latine au jazz traditionnel en passant par le bebop, le hard bop, le free jazz, le R & B, le jazz-fusion et le blues. Comme Freeman l’avait expliqué sur son internet: "My goal is to explore new worlds, and I don't want to be limited by categories. I don't want to be told that I can't go into other categories. The only limitations I place on myself are the limitations I place on my own imagination. And within that realm, there are none." Éternel explorateur, Freeman avait aussi fait plusieurs tournéesen Europe, au Japon, en Australie, au Moyen-Orient et en Extrême-Orient. Toujours prêt à découvrir de nouvelles réalités et à de nouvelles musiques, Freeman avait précisé:

‘’I wanted to see what it was like to live in a place and see how people are when they don’t know you— when you are a part of the landscape. Sometimes we get special treatment, which is nice and I enjoy it, but I wanted to see what it was like if they don’t know you. I also wanted to experience other kinds of music. I went to Spain and played with gypsy musicians and had the opportunity to play with Paco de Lucia, the great Spanish guitarist. I got to play with Andrea Bocelli and went to North Africa, Morocco and Algeria. In Morocco, I played with Ghanaian musicians and also participated in a festival where everybody played with everybody. I played in Hungary with this great Hungarian gypsy musician, Miklos Lukacs, who played this instrument I had never heard of, the cimbalom, which is incredible. I went to the Baltic countries and heard some of the clarinet players and their folk music. I went to Australia and met some aboriginal musicians.’’

Multi-instrumentiste, Freeman jouait à la fois des saxophones ténor et soprano, de la flûte et de la clarinette basse.

Au cours de sa carrière, Freeman avait enregistré et joué avec les plus grands noms du jazz comme Wynton et Branford Marsalis, Hank Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Cecil McBee, Lester Bowie, Kirk Lightsey, John Hicks, Mal Waldron, Famadou Don Moye, Arthur Blythe, Billy Hart, Chucho Valdes, Freddie Cole, Joe Henderson, Chaka Khan, Tomasz Stanko, Art Blakey, Celia Cruz, Paquito D'Rivera, Roy Haynes, Kevin Eubanks, Paco de Lucia, Jack DeJohnette, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Bobby McFerrin, son père Von Freeman, Anthony Davis, Sun Ra, Sam Rivers, Don Pullen, Arturo Sandoval, Machito, Celia Cruz, Giovanni Hidalgo, Paulinho DaCosta, Nana Vasconcelos, Ray Barretto, Eddie Palmieri, Paquito D’Rivera et Tito Puente. Il avait aussi accompagné de grandes vedettes de la musique pop comme Earth, Wind & Fire, The Eurythmics, Michael Jackson, Jackie Wilson, The Temptations, The Isley Brothers, The Four Tops et Sting.

Père de cinq filles, Freeman avait composé une chanson pour chacune d’entre elles.

SOURCES:

‘’Chico Freeman.’’ All About Jazz, 2023.

‘’Chico Freeman.’’ Wikipedia, 2023.

‘’Chico Freeman Biography.’’ Net Industries, 2023.

‘’Chico Freeman in his own words.’’ Chicago Jazz Magazine, 2023.

SCARUFFI, Piero. ‘’Chico Freeman.’’ Piero Scaruffi, 2006.

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