[The book] also includes some great stories - a successful feat by author-son to personalize and demystify his musician-father.

The Charleston Chronicle

Alfred Green presents a good overview of his father’s career. . . .Green adequately summarizes his father’s career without getting bogged down in details or becoming technical when discussing music . . . General readers can enjoy the book.

Music Charts Magazine

Alfred Green has done a marvelous job of gathering the facts about his father’s life, interviewing musicians and others who knew or were influenced by Freddie, providing analyses of his style and technique, and providing relevant information about their personal relationship. . . .This book is valuable on many levels. For the layman who loves jazz and big bands, there is ample information and entertainment, for musicians, particularly guitarists, the technical aspects of Freddie Green’s artistry are addressed, and for whose approach to jazz is an educational one, it offers a wealth of information about various areas of jazz history. It is well conceived and nicely written, a valuable addition to jazz literature.

Jersey Jazz

Alfred Green’s biography of his father is lovingly written, with long-hidden details of the life, music, and personality of a figure so intensely private that only a close relative would have access. Green goes beyond his perspective as a son, however, to contribute a valuable and comprehensive account of the elder Green’s professional activity and evolution as the bedrock of the Count Basie rhythm section. . . .Rhythm Is My Beat fills a long-standing need for an authoritative biography of Freddie Green – a tall order when one considers that the book’s subject was such a private figure, and gave few interviews. Alfred Green’s own recollections, access to primary sources, and willingness to incorporate the work of other experts on Freddie Green’s music combine to form a comprehensive account of his father’s life and impact. The book’s supplemental materials offer a valuable reference tool for those who seek an authentic account of Green’s technique, or who marvel at how the quietly steadfast guitarist elevated the often thankless job of rhythm guitar to an essential part of one of jazz history’s most powerful rhythm sections.

ARSC Journal