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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING GEORGE FREEMAN AND JAZZ APPRECIATION MONTH
WHEREAS, jazz guitarist George Freeman was born April 10, 1927 on Chicago’s South Side and has been a lifelong resident of Cook County; and
WHEREAS, George’s father was a police officer on the South Side of Chicago and worked at the station at 48th and Wabash where he met many jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines and more. He would bring the musicians home to the Freeman household for a meal and to spend time with his family; and
WHEREAS, growing up, as the youngest of Chicago’s first family of jazz, the Freeman brothers, along with tenor sax master Von Freeman and mainstay Chicago drummer Eldridge ‘Bruz’ Freeman, George attended DuSable High School and studied music under the legendary music teacher and band leader, Captain Walter Dyett. Later on, George said "I still have the original piano that was in my home as a child. It moved everywhere we did”; and
WHEREAS, at 12 years old, George became a busboy at the Sherman Hotel on 39th Street and he would go downstairs to the ballroom and listen to the big bands. "It would bring tears to my eyes," said George. “The music from the Sherman Ballroom would be broadcast on radio and my mom had the radio on all the time. You could hear music from The Grand Terrace with big bands like, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey and Anita O'Day and Gene Krupa," and
WHEREAS, in 1950, George recorded with bebop giant Charlie Parker, "In Chicago, Live at the Pershing Hotel." He soon became a sideman with tenor sax man Gene Ammons and went to New York where he played until he got homesick for Chicago and returned. During that time he recorded, "Lowe Groovin’" with Johnny Griffin which became the first hit single for Atlantic Records; and
WHEREAS, George recently said, "Jazz music still excites me. The creativity still excites me,”; and
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the President and the Cook County Board of Commissioners, on behalf of the residents of Cook County, honor George Freeman for his essential contribution to the rich musical Jazz culture and congratulate him on his 92nd birthday; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the County Board recognizes April as Jazz Appreciation Month.
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