Bennett Friedman is an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He attended Berkeley High School, Boston's

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

, and San Francisco State University, where he was awarded a Master's Degree in Music (performance). In addition to actively performing, Friedman is a well known music educator in the San Francisco Bay area. Friedman directed the San Francisco State University Jazz Ensembles for 8 years and has taught on the faculty at Santa Rosa Junior College since 1977. Friedman was chair of the Music Department at Santa Rosa and head of Jazz Studies. He has taught and performed at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, and has been featured as a performer at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, the Kuumba Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, and the

Monterey Jazz Festival The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jaz ...

. Friedman has been awarded the National Endowment For the Arts grant for jazz composition and has been commissioned works by the International Association of Jazz Educators, as well as by college music departments. Among the musicians who cite Friedman as a significant influence is saxophonist

Tom Alexander Thomas Christopher Peter Alexander (born November 20, 1963 in Takoma Park, MD) is an American writer, broadcaster, composer, and voice actor. He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild. Tom was the Executive Editor and Co-Founder of the s ...

, who describes Friedman as a "San Francisco Jazz legend."5

Publications

* "Variations On a Brazilian Song", Mission Music, 1971. * Works commissioned by the National Association of Jazz Educators, National Endowment for the Arts, University of California Bands and College of San Mateo. * Big band charts published by University of Northern Colorado Press.

As sideman

* Peter Welker - We'll be Together Again (Brownstone - 1999) *

Dave Eshelman Dave Eshelman (born 1948) is a jazz trombonist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and educator in the San Francisco Bay Area. From 1984 to 2007, he served as Director of Jazz Studies at California State University, East Bay, formerly Cal State Hayw ...

- Sea Breeze (Sea Breeze) * Dave Eshelman - When Dreams Come True (Sea Breeze) * Dave Eshelman - Temperature Rising (Sea Breeze) * Dave Eshelman - The Jazz Garden (Sea Breeze)

References

* (1) http://calbandalumni.berkeley.edu/history/interviews/friedman/ * (2) http://www.healdsburgjazzfestival.org/wordpress/bennett-friedman-quartet-at-srjc/ * (3) https://web.archive.org/web/20120611072525/http://online.santarosa.edu/homepage/dept30/faculty/friedman.html * (4) https://web.archive.org/web/20120326021203/http://www.santarosa.edu/music/bio-bfriedman.php * (5) https://web.archive.org/web/20051105015650/http://saxgourmet.com/PaulCoatsArticles/an_interview_with%20Tom.htm

External links

Jazz 101, Healdsburg Jazz Festival

John Hammond Quartet featuring Bennett Friedman

We'll Be Together Again album review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Bennett Year of birth missing (living people) Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) alumni Living people Berklee College of Music alumni Musicians from Berkeley, California American jazz tenor saxophonists American male saxophonists San Francisco State University faculty 21st-century American saxophonists Jazz musicians from California 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians