[1] Both of his parents immigrated to the United States: his father, Edward Friedman, was from Lithuania, and his mother, Alma Loew, was from Germany.

[1] He began playing the piano at the age of four, switching from classical music to jazz after his family moved to Los Angeles when he was fifteen.

[1] On the West Coast, Friedman performed with Dexter Gordon, Chet Baker, Buddy DeFranco, and Ornette Coleman.

[1] Some of his early albums received top ratings from DownBeat, which also gave him its critics' poll New Star award.

Reuben Hoch and Time (with Reuben Hoch and Ed Schuller) With Booker Little With Herbie Mann With Eiji Nakayama With Dave Pike With Yuko Shigeno With Hiromi Shimizu With Clark Terry With others