American saxophonist Chico Freeman moved to Europe from the states ten years ago. He started exploring the musical traditions of Eastern Europe and Africa. When he moved back stateside he incorporated his experiences into a unique and lyrical sound.
FREEMAN: I always wondered why Europeans seemed to embrace this music so much — and in some cases I felt even more than it was embraced in the states itself.
Chico Freeman is performing Sunday night at Yoshi's in Oakland. Jazz Perspectives is an occasional series on Crosscurrents. Music in that piece comes from Freeman's 2016 CD "Spoken in to Existence."