“Freddie Freeloader” is a medium-tempo blues from Miles Davis’s 1959 album Kind of Blue. It’s the only track on the album featuring pianist Wynton Kelly instead of Bill Evans, and Kelly’s bluesy, swinging style gives it a relaxed, earthy feel. It’s named after a friend of the band who hung around the scene.
The form is a 12-bar blues in Bb, but with a twist. The first eight bars follow a basic blues: Bb7, Eb7, Bb7. Then bar 9 goes to F7, bar 10 moves to Eb7, and bar 11 shifts to Ab7 (often voiced as Eb7 over Ab) before returning to Bb7. That move to Ab7 near the end gives the tune its unusual, cool sound.
For improvisation, the Bb blues scale and Bb Mixolydian work well for most of the form. Over Eb7, highlight the G (its third). Over the Ab7 in bar 11, play the C and Gb to bring out its distinctive color. Listen to how each soloist on the original, Miles, Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley and Kelly, approaches the same changes with different styles.
Practice the head, which is simple and catchy, then improvise with a blues play-along. Focus on the last four bars, since that’s where the tune differs from a standard blues. Transcribing a few bars of Wynton Kelly’s solo is excellent practice for pianists and guitarists.
Practice checklist for the Freddie Freeloader Lead Sheet PDF: play the melody from memory, play roots through the form, play guide tones, improvise one chorus of chord tones only, and finally record yourself soloing over a play-along. Listening back is the fastest way to spot what to fix next.
Is it hard to play? It’s beginner to intermediate. Recordings to study: the Kind of Blue original. Learn more about the composer on Miles Davis’s Wikipedia page, and find more jazz blues lead sheets on Minedit.