Freddie Redd
| Freddie Redd | |
|---|---|
Freddie Redd
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| Background information | |
| Born |
May 29, 1928 Harlem, New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, hard bop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, actor |
| Instruments | Piano, keyboards, organ, composer |
| Years active | 1948–present |
| Labels | Blue Note, Savoy, Prestige |
| Associated acts | Jackie McLean, Tina Brooks, Howard McGhee |
Freddie Redd (born May 29, 1928) is an American hard-bop pianist and composer. He is perhaps best known for writing music to accompany The Connection (1959), a play by Jack Gelber.
Redd was born and grew up in New York City; after losing his father at the age of one, he was raised by his mother, who moved around Harlem, Brooklyn and other neighborhoods. An autodidact, he began playing the piano at a young age and took to studying jazz seriously upon hearing Charlie Parker during his military service in Korea in the mid-1940s.
Upon discharge from the Army in 1949, he worked with drummer Johnny Mills, and then in New York played with Tiny Grimes, Cootie Williams, Oscar Pettiford and the Jive Bombers. In 1954 he was playing with Art Blakey. Redd toured Sweden in 1956 with Ernestine Anderson and Rolf Ericson.
Redd's greatest success came in the late 1950s when he was invited to compose the music for The Living Theatre's New York stage production of The Connection, which was also used in the subsequent 1961 film. In both play and film he performed as an actor and musician. The theater production enjoyed a modest success and the troupe toured the United States and Europe, performing in New York City, London, and Paris. Redd also led a Blue Note album featuring his music for the play. which featured Jackie McLean on alto sax. His success in the theater production, though, did not advance his career in the United States, and shortly afterwards he moved to Europe, spending time in Denmark and France.
He returned to the United States in 1974 and resettled on the West Coast; he became a regular on the San Francisco scene and recorded intermittently up until 1990. In 2011 he resettled in Baltimore, where he currently resides.
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