Jazz Articles about Don Friedman

Don Friedman: Waltz for Debby

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
October 3, 2003

At the dire risk of committing gratuitous alliteration, there are four “un"s that apply to Don Friedman's playing: under-recorded, under-rated, uncluttered, and unpretentious. A West Coast veteran who's played with Herbie Mann, Charles Lloyd, and Ornette Coleman, he's not a household name but is instantly engaging with his clean touch and bright, flowing sound. Like any lyrical pianist, he's been compared to Bill Evans; there is some harmonic similarity, but Friedman is more driving, and his version of “Waltz for ...

Don Friedman: My Foolish Heart

by Derek Taylor
April 11, 2003

Many modern jazz fans consider the 1960s as the creative apogee of the music. The abundance of top-flight musicians, coupled with a near continuous stream of boundary breaking innovations, made for a creatively explosive combination. The downside to this artistic boon was that many high caliber conceptualists got lost in the deluge.A case could easily be made for counting Don Friedman among this number, as his early '60s albums for Riverside offered some of the most ingenious variations ...

Don Friedman: Attila's Dreams

by C. Michael Bailey
June 14, 2002

Sixty-seven year old pianist Don Friedman has followed up his very fine 1999 recording, Match Point. Here we find the pianist with a new group and a new label. The music is of the same high quality as his previous recordings. A fixture on the West coast during the 1950s, Friedman performed with the likes of Dexter Gordon, Shorty Rogers, Buddy DeFranco, and Chet Baker. This prepared him for his solo career, which has been proceeding since his first recording, ...

Don Friedman Quartet: Match Point

by Dave Nathan
November 1, 2000

Born in San Francisco to a musical family, (his mother was an opera singer), Don Friedman has been known for a long time as a musician's musician, never quite achieving the public notoriety his piano styling deserves. As a young man in San Francisco, he played with the créme de la créme of the West Coast jazz society like Shorty Rogers, Chet Baker, Buddy Collette, Ornette Coleman, Dexter Gordon and Scott LaFaro, quite an eclectic group of jazz stylists which ...

Don Friedman Quartet: Match Point

by David A. Orthmann
October 1, 2000

Taking a rare, well-deserved turn as a leader, pianist Don Friedman delivers a recording of fine, small band music. The material consists primarily of a wide sweep of American Popular Songs and jazz standards. In Friedman’s scheme of things, a swing-era favorite like “Tickle Toes” coexists comfortably with “Green Dolphin Street,” “Round Midnight,” as well as a pair of his own compositions.

Friedman’s rapport with Tom Butts is one of the disc’s strengths. In addition to improvised duets with rhythm ...

Don Friedman Quartet: Match Point

by C. Michael Bailey
May 1, 2000

A Pleasant Diversion. I often think that all music is good, but some of it is better. Match Point is well-conceived and performed collection of standards and originals assembled by journeyman pianist Don Friedman. Friedman is an old had having played with the West Coast likes of Dexter Gordon, Shorty Rogers, Chet Baker, and Buddy DeFranco as well as a score of recordings under his own leadership. Joining Friedman is tenorist Tom Butts. Butts is a dry martini of Stan ...

Don Friedman Quartet: Dreams And Explorations

by Douglas Payne
June 1, 1998

Pianist Don Friedman first collaborated with Hungarian guitarist Attila Zoller as part of Herbie Mann's 1964-66 rhythm section. But the pair first explored the depths of their musical relationship in this excellent and aptly titled quartet session. Recorded in 1964, the same year Zoller won Down Beat's Talent Deserving Wider Recognition award, Dreams and Explorations is a challenging, evocative program of creative, improvised music that is never as predictable as traditional bop nor as ponderous, pretentious or piercing as free ...