George Freeman is an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 guitarist. He was born on Apr 10, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois.

By mid-1947, Freeman was a member of a sextet led by Johnny Griffin

Johnny Griffin

John Arnold Griffin III was an American bop and hard bop tenor saxophonist.- Early life and career :Griffin studied music at DuSable High School in Chicago under Walter Dyett, starting out on clarinet before moving on to oboe and then alto sax...

 and Joe Morris

Joe Morris (trumpeter)

Joe Morris was an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter and bandleader.Born in Montgomery, Alabama, United States, Morris began his career as a jazz trumpeter, working and recording with Earl Bostic, Milt Buckner, Arnett Cobb, Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Griffin, Buddy Rich, Dinah Washington,...

 and supporting touring musicians such as Lester Young

Lester Young

Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....

 and Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....

. He recorded with Parker for the Savoy

Savoy Records

Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part in popularizing bebop.Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part...

 label.

In the mid-'50s, he started a long association with organist Richard "Groove" Holmes, appearing as sideman and song contributor on Holmes' World Pacific

Pacific Jazz Records

Pacific Jazz Records was a Los Angeles-based record label best known for releasing cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded by Richard Bock and drummer Roy Harte in 1952....

 and Prestige

Prestige Records

Prestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...

.

After touring with Gene Ammons

Gene Ammons

Eugene "Jug" Ammons also known as "The Boss," was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons.-Biography:...

 and Shirley Scott

Shirley Scott

Shirley Scott was an American hard bop and soul-jazz organist. She was most known for working with her husband, Stanley Turrentine, and with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis...

, Freeman decided against any more road work and has been based in Chicago.

He is the brother of tenor saxophonist Von Freeman

Von Freeman

Earle Lavon Freeman Sr. is an American hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist. He is the father of jazz saxophonist Chico Freeman.-Biography:...

 and drummer Eldridge "Bruz" Freeman and the uncle of Chico Freeman

Chico Freeman

Chico Freeman is a modern jazz tenor saxophonist and trumpeter and son of jazz saxophonist Von Freeman...

. George and Von collaborated frequently throughout their careers.

His debut solo album, Birth Sign (1969), featured saxophonist Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre

Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre

Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre is an American free jazz tenor saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist.McIntyre was born in Clarksville, Arkansas but his family moved to Chicago when he was a child. He began playing drums at seven, then switched to saxophone...

 and organist Sonny Burke

Sonny Burke

Sonny Burke was a big band leader. In 1937, he graduated from Duke University where he had formed and led the jazz big band known as the Duke Ambassadors....

.

Other musicians he has worked with include Ben Webster

Ben Webster

Benjamin Francis Webster , a.k.a. "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young...

, Illinois Jacquet

Illinois Jacquet

Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo....

, Sonny Stitt

Sonny Stitt

Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...

, Sonny Criss

Sonny Criss

William "Sonny" Criss was an American jazz musician.An alto saxophonist of prominence during the bebop era of jazz, he was one of many players influenced by Charlie Parker.-Biography:...

, Jimmy McGriff

Jimmy McGriff

James Harrell McGriff was an American hard bop and soul-jazz organist and organ trio bandleader who developed a distinctive style of playing the Hammond B-3 organ.-Early years and influences:...

, Les McCann

Les McCann

Les McCann is an American soul jazz piano player and vocalist whose biggest successes came as a crossover artist into R&B and soul.-Biography:...

, Eldee Young

Eldee Young

Eldee Young was a jazz double-bass and cello player who performed in the cool jazz, post bop and rhythm and blues mediums....

, Harold Mabern

Harold Mabern

Harold Mabern is a hard bop and soul jazz pianist.Early in his career, Mabern played in Chicago with Walter Perkins' MJT + 3 in the late 1950s before moving to New York in 1959. Mabern has worked with Jimmy Forrest, Lionel Hampton, the Jazztet , Donald Byrd, Miles Davis , J. J...

, Kenny Barron

Kenny Barron

Kenny Barron , is an American jazz pianist. He is the younger brother of tenor saxophonist Bill Barron, and known for his lyrical, adaptive style.-Biography:...

, Bob Cranshaw

Bob Cranshaw

Melbourne R. "Bob" Cranshaw is an American jazz bassist. His career spans the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement with the Musicians Union. He is perhaps best known for his long association with Sonny Rollins...

, Buddy Williams

Buddy Williams

Harold "Buddy" Williams was an Australian country music singer and songwriter. He was the first Australian born to record country music in Australia, three years after the New Zealand born Tex Morton had made his first recording session here in Australia...

, Kurt Elling

Kurt Elling

Kurt Elling is an American jazz vocalist, composer, lyricist and vocalese performer. Born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Rockford, Elling first became interested in music through his father, who was Kapellmeister at a Lutheran church...

, Red Holloway

Red Holloway

James W. "Red" Holloway is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Holloway started playing banjo and harmonica, switching to tenor sax when he was twelve years old...

, Corey Wilkes, and the Deep Blue Organ Trio

Deep Blue Organ Trio

The Deep Blue Organ Trio is a Chicago based jazz organ trio made up of jazz guitarist Bobby Broom, Hammond B3 organist Chris Foreman and drummer Greg Rockingham...

.

Discography

• Birth Sign (Delmark Records
  Delmark Records
  Delmark Records is an independent American jazz and blues record label, based in Chicago since 1958. The label originated in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953 when owner Bob Koester released a recording of the Windy City Six, a traditional jazz group, under the "Delmar" imprint.-History:Born in 1932 in...
  
  , 1969)
• New Improved Funk (Groove Merchant
  Groove Merchant
  Groove Merchant was an American jazz and R&B record label during the 1970s. It was ran by producer Sonny Lester and distributed by Pickwick Records. Notable artists included Chick Corea, O'Donel Levy, Buddy Rich, Jimmy McGriff, and Lionel Hampton to name a few...
  
  , 1972)
• Man and Woman (Groove Merchant, 1974)
• All in the Game (LRC Records, 1977)
• Rebellion (Southport Records, 1995)
• George Burns (Orchard Records, 1999)
• At Long Last George (Savant Records, 2001)