About Freddie Redd
Freddie Redd was an American hard-bop pianist and composer. He is best known for writing music to accompany The Connection (1959), a play by Jack Gelber. According to Peter Watrous, writing in The New York Times: "Mr. Redd hung out at jam sessions in the 1950s and played with many of the major figures, Sonny Rollins to Art Blakey, and worked regularly with Charles Mingus. When things got tough, he just moved on, living in Guadalajara, Mexico, and in Paris and London." This is also where he recorded his first known album, Freddie Redd Trio, in 1955. Redd lived in Los Angeles in the late 70s, where he recorded Straight Ahead. After returning to the U.S., Redd visited San Francisco to work as a house pianist at Bop City and recorded for Riverside.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.