Television Reviews : Saxman Freeman Is a Treat, Man

“Chico Freeman Live at Ronnie Scott’s,” airing on the Bravo cable channel Saturday at 8 p.m. and Feb. 10 at 7 p.m., is much more than its deceptive title implies.

The saxophonist is almost never shown with the London nightclub as a setting. At various points he may be sitting on a tree branch playing soprano sax, or blanketed in clouds of smoke, or walking away from his own image in a double-exposure scene shot in black-and-white.

When Freeman plays a tremolo, two alternating camera angles vibrate wildly in sympathy. When he uses multiphonics, there are multiple images to match. One sequence has him playing bass clarinet, with close-ups of his eye and other odd shots while he voice-overs a story about a dream, and another about his idol Eric Dolphy.

Visual values aside, Freeman covers a broad musical span, from basic blues to funk to modal and avant garde, mostly on tenor saxophone. His personality comes across vividly as he talks about music as politics, later telling an anecdote about a black man at the gates of heaven.

Freeman leaves a quartet worthy of him, with admirable work by Kenny Barron on piano, Freddie Waits on drums and Santti Debriano on bass. Most of the compositions are his own, reflecting the range of his talent and tastes.

It is a rare pleasure to hear so much first-rate jazz presented with imagination, at no cost to the musical values. Directors Stephen Cleary and Robert Lemkin deserve the credit.