Freddie Green

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Freddie Green (baptized Frederic William Green, March 31, 1911–March 1, 1987) was an American jazz guitarist. He was especially noted for his sophisticated rhythm guitar in big band settings, particularly for the Count Basie orchestra, where he was part of the "All-American Rhythm Section" with Basie on piano, Jo Jones on drums, and Walter Page on bass.

He was born in Charleston, South Carolina on the 31st of March 1911. He was exposed to music at an early age, and before picking up the Guitar in his early teenage years learnt the Banjo. A friend of his Father's by the name of Sam Walker taught a young Freddie to read music, and keenly encouraged him to keep up his Guitar playing. Walker gave Freddie what was perhaps his first gig, playing with a local community group with whom he was an organizer. Interestingly, another member of the group was a young William "Cat" Anderson, who went on to become an established trumpeter, working with notable figures such as Duke Ellington.

Unfortunately, around this time Green's parents died, and he moved to New York to lived with his aunt and continue his education. The move to New York opened up a new musical world to Freddie. While still in his teens, he began to play around the clubs of the city, earning money and a reputation. In one of these gigs, he was noticed by an associated of Count Basie, who realised the potential of Green and introduced him to Basie.

Shortly afterwards, Basie and his ensemble went to one of Green's gigs on the advice of the associate. Basie was an immediate fan, and approached him with a job offer, which Green accepted.

Green's technique was to only play certain important notes of each chord. The unsounded notes were damped by the fingers of the left hand. This technique gave a 'chunky' rhythm sound without creating too much unnecessary harmonic presence that might interfere with notes sounded by other members of the orchestra. Throughout his career, Green only rarely played single note solos.

Green was a pioneer in the way a guitar is played in a Big Band setting.

One notable recorded exception to the general rule that Green rarely took solos is from the January 16, 1938 Carnegie Hall concert that featured the Benny Goodman big band. In the jam session on Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose", Green was the rhythm guitarist for the ensemble, which also featured Basie and Page, and musicians from Duke Ellington's band. After Goodman's own solo, he signaled to Green to take his own solo, which the musician Turk van Lake described in his commentary on the reissued 1938 Carnegie Hall concert as a "startling move"^[1]. Green's solo occurs between those of Goodman and trumpeter Harry James.

Fittingly, his Epitaph is inscribed with "to our dad "Mr Rhythm" ".