Von Freeman, “The Improvisor” Nearing 80 years old, Chicago’s most hidden treasure showed he can still blow with the best of the crazy bop cats, releasing a record that maintains the relevance he’s established over a sixty-year career. Though he tends to lean on his sidemen a bit throughout the length of this live recording, there are moments when Freeman shows why experience counts in jazz, especially on his solo version of the standard “If I Should Lose You” and the unique legato phrasing he lends to his original “Ski-wee.” Freeman might be the grand old man of jazz in the city, but “The Improvisor” shows that he’s got some wind left in those sails. Premonition Records
Audience choice: Patricia Barber, “Verse” Blue Note Records
