The Benoit Freeman Project 2 is an collaboration album by American pianist David Benoit and American Guitarist Russ Freeman released in 2004, and recorded for the Peak label. The album reached #7 on Billboard's Jazz chart. Russ Freeman also serves as leader and frontman for the Rippingtons.
Lawrence "Bud" Freeman (April 13, 1906 – March 15, 1991) was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing tenor saxophone but also able at the clarinet…
The instrumental studio tracks recorded by the classic Chet Baker Quartet with pianist Russ Freeman complement the vocal sides issues on Chet Baker Sings. The 1952-53 instrumental sides originally appeared on Pacific Jazz EPs and were later reunited on Cool Baker Vol. 1 and Cool Baker Vol. 2. Quartet: Russ Freeman and Chet Baker, taped in 1956, contained the very last collaborations between the trumpeter and pianist.
The Rippingtons are a Grammy-nominated contemporary jazz group, founded by guitarist and composer Russ Freeman in 1985. The group has passed the thirty year mark, and continues to innovate. Under Freeman's production, the group has released 22 albums, all of which have attained top 5 Billboard status, with 5 of them reaching #1. Their debut album, "Moonlighting", which Jazziz magazine has called "the number one most influential contemporary jazz album of all time."
If a new George Freeman album is always a blessing, then what is a new George Freeman album featuring two world class backing bands? That’s the riddle we’ll need to solve as we spend more time with his newest CD, The Good Life. George is joined on the first half of the album by Joey DeFrancesco and Lewis Nash and on the second half of the disc, by Christian McBride and Carl Allen. These songs, five by George, and two standards (“If I Had You” and “The Good Life”) are all beautifully played, with George’s brilliant tone and musical ideas front and center on “Mr. D” (George’s tribute to Joey DeFrancesco). “1,2,3,4” has a Chicago to New Orleans groove happening that is slick and fun, and that tone with Christian McBride’s big bass notes? That’s a good time, indeed.
The Finnish-American composer Alex Freeman has been described as being ‘as comfortable in the realm of the pop ballad as in that of the concert hall’ and yet his songs ‘are imbued with the craftsmanship and care one would expect of a composer of his formidable academic training, just as his concert works carry the emotional immediacy of popular music.’ Himself a choral singer, Alex Freeman has written a number of works for choir: music that aims to be sonorous and melodic, but is carefully crafted to avoid the clichés that can burden conventional tonality.
Smooth jazz stalwarts the Rippingtons infuse their trademark brand of instrumental pop with a Latin aesthetic on Wild Card. Once again featuring the lead guitar of Russ Freeman, the Rippingtons deliver a solid collection of mellow contemporary pop and lite jazz that should please longtime fans. Evenly split between R&B-inflected cuts such as the Aretha Franklin hit "Till You Come Back to Me" and Latin tracks including the flamenco-inspired "Spanish Girl" and the salsa-ready "Mulata di Mi Amor," Wild Card is a pleasant listen.