Ronnie Free

Ronnie Free (born January 15, 1936) is an American jazz drummer. He was active in the 1950s and worked with many notable jazz musicians including pianists Mose Allison, Oscar Pettiford, Lennie Tristano, Sonny Clark, and bandleader Woody Herman.

Ronnie Free was born Ronald Guy Free on January 15, 1936, in Charleston, South Carolina, to Daisy and Herbie Free. His mother was a bartender, and his father was a garbage collector for the city. He had a sister, Joan.

Free's father was living with the unfulfilled dream of becoming a musician, so when young Ronnie expressed an interest in playing drums at age six, his father wholeheartedly encouraged him. By age 8, Free was taking drum lessons from a local teacher, Patrick Leonard, and within the next four years, he began playing drums at local Charleston clubs. When he was about 12, he visited New York with a family friend and went to the Birdland Jazz Club where he heard Erroll Garner Trio (with bassist John Simmons and drummer Shadow Wilson). Free was mesmerized by Wilson's drum work and it strengthened his resolve to chase his dream of playing drums professionally.

In 1952, at age 16, Free quit school to tour with a music and comedy trio "Tommy Weeks and His Merry Madcaps". During those years, Free's other drumming influence was Max Roach, who at the time was with trumpeter Clifford Brown and saxophonist Sonny Rollins.

By age 18, Free moved to New York to pursue a career in jazz and one of the first people he met was his idol Shadow Wilson. He moved in with a family friend on Staten Island and found jobs playing for lounge singers and comedians until he obtained his Local 1802 musicians' union card. In 1956, while playing in the off-Broadway production of Shoestring revue, he was spotted by bassist Oscar Pettiford, who asked him to play with him on a few record dates. Through Pettiford, Free met big band leader Woody Herman and played in Woody's band for a few weeks in 1956 until he was dismissed after a disappointing gig in Cleveland.

Back in New York, in 1957, Free played on 4 tracks of Chris Connor's album Chris Connor Sings The George Gershwin Almanac Of Song (Atlantic Records) alongside Oscar Pettiford and Wendell Marshall (bass); Ralph Sharon (piano); Herbie Mann (flute); Barry Galbraith (guitar); and Eddie Costa (vibraphone). The same year, he was heard on Sal Salvador's album Tribute To The Greats (Bethlehem Records) alongside bassist Sonny Dallas.

Around that time, Free began doing drugs (heroin and others) which put a dent in his professional music career. He was introduced to drugs by his fellow musicians Shadow Wilson and John Simmons. At one point, Free was fired for heroin possession from Lena Horne's band in Las Vegas.

From 1958 to 1960, Free lived in a five-story loft building on 821 Sixth Avenue in Chelsea's Flower District in New York. The famous building was the late-night haunt of New York musicians, including some of the biggest names in jazz including Charles Mingus, Zoot Sims, Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Hall Overton, Bud Powell, Henry Grimes, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Gerry Mulligan. Free was the loft's unofficial "house drummer" and regularly played in late-night jam sessions with bassist Steve Swallow, pianist Dave Frishberg, Chico Hamilton, and Marian McPartland. Famed magazine photographer W. Eugene Smith, who also lived in the building, obsessively took photographs and made audio recordings, and documented his findings in his famous book The Jazz Loft Project: Photographs and Tapes of W. Eugene Smith from 821 Sixth Avenue, 1957-1965 (Knopf, November 24, 2009).

During those years, Free recorded with pianist Mose Allison. He was heard on Allison's albums Ramblin' With Mose (1958), Creek Bank (1958), and Autumn Song (1959), alongside bassist Addison Farmer. In 1959, his drums were heard on saxophonists Lee Konitz and Jimmy Giuffre's album Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre (His Master's Voice Records) with Buddy Clark (bass); Hal McKusick (alto saxophone); Bill Evans (piano); Ted Brown and Warne Marsh (tenor saxophone). In 1958-59, he also played with Ray Eberle, George Wallington, and Marian McPartland.

Unfortunately, Free's drug addiction sent his music career into a freefall. One night in 1959, he was arrested for jaywalking and eventually was admitted by the police to Bellevue Mental Hospital when drugs were found in his possession. Free was eventually released from the hospital into the custody of his parents. Shortly thereafter, he moved back to his hometown Charleston, and resigned from the music business. He kicked his drug habit, got married, and began working as a typist at the naval shipyard, playing music only occasionally. His marriage ended in divorce after twelve years.

In the 1970s, Free drove a taxi in San Diego, California. In the 1980s, when his friend Mose Allison was in San Diego for a gig, he invited Free to play with him. From 1991 to 1993, Free led a trio with two young Charleston musicians, the pianist Tommy Gill and the bassist Wayne Mitchum, and played at local bars and restaurants. After the trio disbanded, Free moved to Hot Springs, Virginia, to work at The Homestead.

In 1992, Free appeared in a jazz quartet with Wayne Shorter, Jo Jones, and Ben Tucker in Lizzie Borden's romance thriller Love Crimes starring Sean Young, Patrick Bergin, and Arnetia Walker.

In 2009, Free was in the guitarist Royce Campbell's trio with bassist Bob Bowen and recorded All Standards...And A Blues (Philology Records).

With Mose Allison

• Ramblin' with Mose (Prestige, 1958)
• Creek Bank (Prestige, 1958)
• Autumn Song (Prestige, 1959)

With Lee Konitz and Jimmy Guiffre

• Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre (Verve, 1959)