 Freddie Kohlman was born in New Orleans and began playing professionally as a teenager, working with A. J. Piron, Joe Robichaux, Papa Celestin, and Sam Morgan.He moved to Chicago in the middle of the 1930s, where he played with Albert Ammons, Stuff Smith, Earl Hines, and Lee Collins.After returning to New Orleans in 1941, he led his own band from 1944.