Don Friedman

Friedman was born on May 4, 1935, in San Francisco.[1] Both of his parents were immigrants to the United States: his father, Edward Friedman, was from Lithuania, and his mother, Alma Loew, was from Germany.[1] He began playing the piano at the age of four.[1] He switched from classical music to jazz after his family moved to Los Angeles when he was fifteen.[1] His early jazz piano influence was Bud Powell.[1] Friedman briefly studied composition at Los Angeles City College.[1]

On the West Coast, Friedman performed with Dexter Gordon, Chet Baker, Buddy DeFranco, and Ornette Coleman. He was also a member of Clark Terry's big band.

Friedman moved to New York permanently in 1958.[1] In the 1960s, Friedman played with both modern jazz and more traditional or popular musicians.[1] The former included Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Jimmy Giuffre, Booker Little, and Attila Zoller; the latter included Bobby Hackett and Herbie Mann.[1] Frieman's first album as a leader was A Day in the City, in 1961.[1] Some of his early albums received top ratings from DownBeat, which also gave him its critics' poll New Star award.[1] He was also an educator in New York.[2] He had many fans in Japan.[3][4]

Friedman was married three times, with the first two ending in divorce.[1] He died of pancreatic cancer, at home in the Bronx on June 30, 2016.[1] He has one daughter, Lynn Adrianna Freedman, and a granddaughter, Ocean Olivo.

• Don Friedman discography at JazzDiscography.com
• Don Friedman Jazz Pianist! at DonFriedman.net