Bennett Friedman

Who is Bennett Friedman?

Bennett Friedman is an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Friedman attended Berkeley High School, Boston's Berklee College of Music, and San Francisco State University, where he was awarded a Master's Degree in Music.

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 previously chair of the Music Department at Santa Rosa, where he currently serves as the head of Jazz Studies. He has also taught and performed at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, and has recently been featured as a performer at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, the Kuumba Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, and the Monterey Jazz Festival.,

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 numerous college music departments.

Among the musicians who cite Friedman as a significant influence is fellow saxophonist Tom Alexander, who describes Friedman a "San Francisco Jazz legend."