Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 376
•
Trim: 6½ x 9¼
978-1-4422-4246-3 • Hardback • August 2015 • $105.00 • (£81.00)
978-1-4422-4247-0 • eBook • August 2015 • $99.50 • (£77.00)
Alfred Green received his masters in social work from the University of Southern California. In 1984 he served as vice president of production at Academic Press Inc. in San Diego. Green was a freelance photographer for ten years and a member of the American Society of Magazine Photographers (ASMP) with assignments for Fortune, New York, Scholastic, Financial World and Black Enterprise Magazine. He covered the 12th OAU Conference in Kampala, Uganda, with additional assignments in Angola, Puerto Rico and Spain. He retired from the Los Angeles Unified School District as a psychiatric social worker. He currently lives on the west coast with his wife, Judy.
Dedication
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgment
Chronology
Chapter 1: God Said: “Let There Be Rhythm” and Freddie Green Heard the Call
Chapter 2: The Trail to Basie
Chapter 3: Finding the Groove
Chapter 4: Building the Wave
Chapter 5: On the Road
Chapter 6: You Don’t Screw With What Got You Here
Chapter 7: “You Don’t Have to Shout to Be Heard.”
Chapter 8: Mr. Rhythm the Man
Appendix 1: The Quest of Freddie Green: From Ukulele to “Mr. Rhythm” by Michael Pettersen
Appendix 2: The Dynamic Chord and Muted Notes (DCMN) analysis of Freddie Green's Rhythm Guitar Style: What's in a "One-Note" Chord? by M.D. Allen
Appendix 3: For the Experienced Jazz Guitarist: Freddie Green Fundamentals by Michael Pettersen
Appendix 4: Favorite Chord Voicings of Freddie Green by Michael Pettersen
Appendix 5The String Height of Freddie's Guitar and How It Shaped His Unique Style by Michael Pettersen
Appendix 6: Did Freddie Green always play the guitar chart “as written?” by Michael Pettersen
Appendix 7: Improvised Jazz Counterpoint: The Stylistic Characteristics of Freddie Green’s Rhythm Guitar Playing by Trevor de Clerq
Appendix 8: Freddie Green's One Note Chord Technique: Supporting Evidence from Other Guitarists
Appendix 9: Chapter Transcriptions
Appendix 10: The Ultimate Transcription
Appendix 11: Freddie Green Compositions, compiled by Mark Allen
Appendix 12: Freddie Green Recordings: A Selected Discography
Appendix 13: Freddie Green on Film and Video
Appendix 14: Freddie Green's Non-Basie Recordings
Bibliography
[The book] also includes some great stories - a successful feat by author-son to personalize and demystify his musician-father.
— The Charleston Chronicle
Alfred Green presents a good overview of his father’s career. . . .Green adequately summarizes his father’s career without getting bogged down in details or becoming technical when discussing music . . . General readers can enjoy the book.
— Music Charts Magazine
Alfred Green has done a marvelous job of gathering the facts about his father’s life, interviewing musicians and others who knew or were influenced by Freddie, providing analyses of his style and technique, and providing relevant information about their personal relationship. . . .This book is valuable on many levels. For the layman who loves jazz and big bands, there is ample information and entertainment, for musicians, particularly guitarists, the technical aspects of Freddie Green’s artistry are addressed, and for whose approach to jazz is an educational one, it offers a wealth of information about various areas of jazz history. It is well conceived and nicely written, a valuable addition to jazz literature.
— Jersey Jazz
Alfred Green’s biography of his father is lovingly written, with long-hidden details of the life, music, and personality of a figure so intensely private that only a close relative would have access. Green goes beyond his perspective as a son, however, to contribute a valuable and comprehensive account of the elder Green’s professional activity and evolution as the bedrock of the Count Basie rhythm section. . . .Rhythm Is My Beat fills a long-standing need for an authoritative biography of Freddie Green – a tall order when one considers that the book’s subject was such a private figure, and gave few interviews. Alfred Green’s own recollections, access to primary sources, and willingness to incorporate the work of other experts on Freddie Green’s music combine to form a comprehensive account of his father’s life and impact. The book’s supplemental materials offer a valuable reference tool for those who seek an authentic account of Green’s technique, or who marvel at how the quietly steadfast guitarist elevated the often thankless job of rhythm guitar to an essential part of one of jazz history’s most powerful rhythm sections.
— ARSC Journal