Biography Freddie Redd

Freddie Redd (born May 29, 1928, in New York City) is an American hard-bop pianist and composer.

After a period in the Army (1946–49), he worked with drummer Johnny Mills, and then in New York played with Tiny Grimes, Cootie Williams, Oscar Pettiford and the Jive Bombers. Redd toured Sweden in 1956 with Ernestine Anderson and Rolf Ericson.

His greatest success came in the late 1950s in the play and movie The Connection, in which he both played and acted in New York City, London, and Paris. He also played on the soundtrack album. His success in the play did not help his career in the United States, however, and shortly afterwards he moved to Europe.

He returned to the United States in 1974. Although he has never been able to establish himself commercially in the first rank of jazz figures, musically, his playing is of the highest caliber. Punchy, jumpy and playful, yet laden with an undertone of blusey melancholy, Redd's playing is instantly recognizable. A master of the small-group, hardbop arrangement, Redd is both a dutiful soloist and an excitable accompanist who has pushed musicians to play up to their best; these have included highly regarded artists such as Jackie McLean, Tina Brooks, Paul Chambers, Howard McGhee, Milt Hinton, Lou Donaldson, Benny Bailey, Louis Hayes, Al McKibbon, Billy Higgins and many more. Redd recorded several albums as leader, including three prominent Blue Note albums.

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