Chico Freeman

Chico Freeman is a modern jazz tenor saxophonist born on July 17, 1949, in Chicago, Illinois.

Son of the Chicago-based jazz saxophonist Von Freeman, he is a graduate of Northwestern University, with a major in music. A critically acclaimed performer, he is capable of intricate melodies and rhythms. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as part of a movement including Wynton Marsalis of modern players steeped in the traditions of jazz, recording for independent labels like India Navigation and Contemporary Records. A Freeman album will typically contain standards and compositions by modernists like John Coltrane as well as new tunes by Freeman and his contemporaries such as bassist Cecil McBee.