The piece takes the form of a twelve-bar blues in B♭, but the chord over the final two bars of each chorus is an A♭7, not the traditional B♭7 followed by either F7 for a turnaround or some variation of B♭7 for an ending.
[1] The solos are by Kelly, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley and Paul Chambers.
Jon Hendricks and Kind of Blue chronicler Ashley Kahn claim that Fred Tolbert was a Philadelphia bartender whose business card read "Freddie the Freeloader".
[1][3] The name may have also been inspired by Red Skelton’s most famous character, "Freddie the Freeloader" the hobo clown.
[1][2] Jon Hendricks, on the eponymous record, added vocalese-style lyrics to all of the original solos (himself singing Coltrane's part), reimagining it as a story about a barman who allowed jazz musicians to freeload at his bar at the expense of other patrons.