Freddie Green

Early life and education

Green was born in Charleston, South Carolina on March 31, 1911. He learned banjo as a child and took up guitar in his early teens. A friend of his father, Sam Walker, taught him to read music and gave him his first gig with a local community group. Another member of that group was trumpeter William "Cat" Anderson.

Career

After his parents died, Green moved to New York City to live with his aunt. While still a teenager, he played in city clubs, earning money and a reputation. Talent scout John H. Hammond noticed him and introduced him to Count Basie. In 1937, Basie attended one of Green's gigs and offered him a job.

Except for a brief interruption, Green remained with the Basie band for the next fifty years. He played rhythm guitar, accompanying others, and rarely played solos. His timing and sense of harmony helped establish the rhythm guitar as important in the rhythm section. Green did play a solo on January 16, 1938, at a Carnegie Hall concert featuring the Benny Goodman big band.

During a jam session on "Honeysuckle Rose," Goodman signaled Green to take a solo, described by musician Turk Van Lake as a "startling move." Green changed chords rapidly, often with every beat, and used a fingering technique covering four strings while depressing only a subset of notes, dampening unsounded notes with his left hand. His playing on his Stromberg guitar was the model for Ralph Patt's big-band playing. Green composed two pieces for Basie: "Down for Double" (recorded 1941) and "Corner Pocket" (recorded 1955). He died of a heart attack in Las Vegas on March 1, 1987.