CAROLYN FREEMAN, wife of the late renowned jazz pianist, Russ Freeman, was a dancer who performed in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Flower Drum Song” on Broadway.  After touring with the National Company of FDS she brought the company to Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Atlantic City, and Honolulu, Hawaii.  Later, her revue group “the Sake Set” performed in San Francisco and Honolulu.

She met Russ in 1978 and 7 years later they married.  Since his death in 2002, her passion has been to keep his music alive which is why she and composer/arranger Nathan Tanouye created the Las Vegas Jazz Connection orchestra in 2004.  They have recorded 3 CDs of which two feature the music of Russ Freeman arranged for big band (“Crossings” and “Remembering Russ”).  Their latest CD “11” is primarily the work of Nathan Tanouye. The LV Jazz Connection have held concerts at the Orleans, the Judy Bayley Theatre at UNLV, Clark County Jazz Festival, the Jazz Bakery (Los Angeles) and the LA Jazz Institute’s “West Coast Sounds” festival (Los Angeles).

Carolyn is the past President of “Vegas Jazz” aka Las Vegas Jazz Society and is now the Director of her own nonprofit organization “American Jazz Initiative.”