Tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman developed his unique style in the late 1920s and early '30s, placing him somewhere in between the heavier-toned Coleman Hawkins and the more suave, cool-headed Lester Young. Stylistically, his playing more or less straddles the line between the Chicago-bred trad jazz of the '20s and the more advanced Swing that evolved in the '30s. He worked with musicians associated with both Traditional Jazz/Dixieland (Eddie Condon) and Swing (Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey) before forming his eight-piece Summa Cum Laude Orchestra -- perhaps his most celebrated group -- at the close of the '30s. He continued recording regularly up until his death in the '80s; his warm, outgoing music remained essentially unchanged over the years.
