Von Freeman - 1923-2012

[LouieB]

I think, more so than Von, Fred was definitely more of a mentor to musicians. Of course owning a club, Fred dealt with musicians a lot more than Von, too.

My thought exactly. Von was more of a performer with some aspects of his career that involved mentorship, but Fred was part of a fairly tight community, since he ran a club.

 

LouieB

[calvino]

I always forget about the organissimo website, so I hardly venture over there - anyway they had great RIP Von thread going - some great stories.

 

http://www.organissi...on-freeman-rip/

 

Below is Tesser's obit - which I am sure you already read, Lou. And I was wrong about the whole mentor bit in my previous post, with regards to Freeman and Fred. I don't run in the same circles as the musicians who played with Freeman, as oppose to Fred's, but after reading the comments in Tesser's piece, I now remember all the singers waiting in the wings to sing with Von and his band at the Apartment Lounge - which was cool.

 

http://www.examiner.com/article/von-freeman-chicago-saxophone-legend-dies-at-88?fb_action_ids=10150967445191332&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=timeline_og&action_object_map={%2210150967445191332%22%3A10151351334102519}&action_type_map={%2210150967445191332%22%3A%22og.likes%22}&action_ref_map=

[LouieB]

I had not read the Tesser piece. It is true that Von did mentor lots of folks, but the fact that Fred ran two (well one major) clubs certainly gave him the opportunity to support more fully a significant number of artists. Lots of tributes to Von at the Jazz Fest including Chico playing with the Apartment Lounge band on Friday night and a number dedicated to Fred and Von by Ken VanderMark the other night.

 

LouieB