Fred Hersch


Fred Hersch is an American jazz pianist and educator. He has performed solo and led his own groups, including the Pocket Orchestra consisting of piano, trumpet, voice, and percussion. He was the first person to play weeklong engagements as a solo pianist at the Village Vanguard in New York City. He has recorded more than 70 of his jazz compositions. Hersch has been nominated for several Grammy Awards, and, as of December 2014, had been on the Jazz Studies faculty of the New England Conservatory since 1980.

Early life

Hersch was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, of Jewish parents. He began playing the piano at the age of four and started composing music by eight. He won national piano competitions starting at the age of ten.
Hersch first became interested in jazz while at Grinnell College in Iowa. He dropped out of school and started playing jazz in Cincinnati. He continued his studies at the New England Conservatory, attracting attention from the press – "a fine showcase for Fred Hersch" – in a college recital. On graduation, he became a jazz piano instructor at the college.

Career

One of Fred Hersch's earliest professional engagements was with Art Farmer in Los Angeles in 1978. Jazz critic Leonard Feather wrote that he "showed his ability as an accompanist and soloist at the out-of-tune piano". He played with Farmer again in 1981. In 1982, the album A Work of Art, was released, with Hersch on piano. It included two original compositions by Hersch. Leonard Feather gave it 3½ stars.
In 1980, the Fred Hersch Trio played at B. Dalton Bookseller, one of many fringe events that were an offshoot of the Newport Jazz Festival.
In 1981, he and his trio played for singer Chris Connor, who was making a comeback after completing a recovery program for alcoholism.
He played at the Kool Jazz Festival in 1981, and with Joe Henderson in the New Jazz at the Public series in the same year.
In 1983, Hersch played a duo session with bassist Ratzo Harris at the Knickerbocker Saloon, New York. The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Hersch is a romantic. He is openly involved in what he is playing and projects this involvement with body English and facial expressions that subtly underline the sense of his music. His lines often become gently billowing waves of sound, and he rises and falls, tenses and relaxes along with them."
In 1983–84, Hersch played many sessions with Jane Ira Bloom in several venues, and with whom he recorded the album, Mighty Lights.
In 1985, he played with the Jamie Baum Quartet.
In 1986, he played with Toots Thielemans at the Great Woods jazz festival. He played with him in several sessions the following year, and again in 1987, receiving special attention for his solos. In 1986, he taught at Berklee College of Music.
He was the pianist for the Eddie Daniels quartet in 1987 and appeared on his album, To Bird with Love.
In 1988, Hersch played in Somerville, Massachusetts with his quintet at the Willow Jazz Club. The Boston Globe described him as "an elegant, highly melodic player."
In 1989, Hersch played with Janis Siegel of The Manhattan Transfer and they recorded together in a studio set up in his home. His first solo piano recording came in 1993: Fred Hersch at Maybeck.
In 2006, Palmetto Records released the solo CD Fred Hersch in Amsterdam: Live at the Bimhuis, and released his eighth solo disc, Fred Hersch Plays Jobim, in 2009.

Composing

Hersch's career as a performer has been enhanced by his composing activities, which are an important part of nearly all of his concerts and recordings. He has received commissions from the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, the Doris Duke Foundation, the Miller Theatre at Columbia University, the Gramercy Trio and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. A disc of his through-composed works, Fred Hersch: Concert Music 2001-2006, was released by Naxos Records.
A number of Hersch's compositions have been transcribed by music publisher Edition Peters. These include "Valentine", Three Character Studies, Saloon Songs, and 24 Variations on a Bach Chorale.
Hersch was awarded a 2003 Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for composition. In the same year, he created Leaves of Grass, a large-scale setting of Walt Whitman's poetry for two voices and an instrumental octet; the work was presented in March 2005 at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall as part of a six-city U.S. tour.

Accompanist

Hersch has collaborated with a variety of instrumentalists and vocalists in the worlds of jazz ; classical ; and Broadway. Hersch has accompanied jazz vocalists such as Nancy King, Norma Winstone and Kurt Elling.
Hersch has taught at The New School and Manhattan School of Music, and conducted a Professional Training Workshop for Young Musicians at The Weill Institute at Carnegie Hall in 2008.

Awards and honors

Art Farmer's A Work of Art in 1983 and two of Eddie Daniels' albums with Hersch in 1986 and 1987 preceded Short Stories, a collaboration between Janis Siegel and Hersch, co-led and co-produced with arrangements by Hersch, that got a nomination for her vocal performance in 1989. In 1992 finally Dancing in the Dark, his seventh trio recording and second for Chesky Records, was nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance.
Downbeat magazine described Hersch as "one of the small handful of brilliant musicians of his generation." The New York Times described him as "singular among the trailblazers of their art, a largely unsung innovator of this borderless, individualistic jazz – a jazz for the 21st century."

Influence

Hersch's influence has been widely felt on a new generation of jazz pianists, from former Hersch students including Brad Mehldau and Ethan Iverson of the Bad Plus, to his contemporary Jason Moran, who said: "Fred at the piano is like LeBron James on the basketball court. He's perfection."

Gallery

Personal life

Illness and recovery

In 1993 Hersch announced publicly that he was gay and that he had been treated for HIV since 1984. He fell into a coma in 2008 for two months. When he regained consciousness, he had lost all muscular function as a result of his long inactivity and could not play the piano. After rehabilitation, he was able to play again. In 2011 he performed My Coma Dreams, a stage show written and directed by Herschel Garfein about the contrast between dreams and reality.

Charity work

Hersch has been a spokesman and fund-raiser for AIDS services and education agencies since 1993. Hersch has produced and performed on four benefit recordings and in numerous concerts for charities including Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS which had raised over $250,000 as of June, 2013. In April, 2016 he played a benefit concert for Buddhist Global Relief. He has also been the keynote speaker and performer at international medical conferences in the U.S. and Europe.

Discography

As leader/co-leader


YearTitleLabelLine-up and notes
1984HorizonsConcord JazzTrio with Marc Johnson and Joey Baron
1984As OneJMTDuo with Jane Ira Bloom
1986SarabandeSunnysideTrio with Charlie Haden and Joey Baron
1988E.T.C.RedTrio E.T.C. with Steve LaSpina and Jeff Hirshfield
1989HeartsongsSunnysideTrio with Michael Formanek and Jeff Hirshfield
1989The French Collection EMI AngelTrio with Steve LaSpina, Joey Baron and guests: James Newton, Kevin Eubanks, Toots Thielemans, Eddie Daniels
1989Short StoriesAtlanticQuartet co-led by Janis Siegel plus Harvie Swartz and Kris Yenny ; Siegel was a Grammy nominee for Best Jazz Vocal Performance
1990Evanessence: A Tribute to Bill EvansEvidenceTrio with Michael Formanek or Marc Johnson, Jeff Hirshfield and guests: Gary Burton, Toots Thielemans
1991E.T.C. Plus OneRedQuartet, trio E.T.C. with Steve LaSpina and Jeff Hirshfield plus Jerry Bergonzi
1991Forward MotionCheskyQuintet with Rich Perry, Erik Friedlander, Scott Colley and Tom Rainey
1992Dancing in the DarkCheskyTrio with Drew Gress and Tom Rainey; Grammy nominee for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group
1993Red Square Blue: Jazz Impressions of Russian ComposersEMI AngelTrio with Steve LaSpina, Jeff Hirshfield and guests: James Newton, Toots Thielemans, Phil Woods, Erik Friedlander
1993Fred Hersch at MaybeckConcord JazzSolo piano, in concert
1994Plays...CheskyTrio with Drew Gress and Tom Rainey
1995Point in TimeEnjaTrio with Drew Gress and Tom Rainey, and quintet adding Dave Douglas, Rich Perry on half of the tracks
1995Beautiful LoveSunnysideDuo with Jay Clayton
1995Slow Hot WindVarèse SarabandeDuo with Janis Siegel, and quartet with Tony Dumas and Ralph Penland added
1995I Never Told You: Fred Hersch Plays Johnny MandelVarèse SarabandeSolo piano; Grammy nominee for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group
1996Passion Flower - The Music of Billy StrayhornNonesuchTrio with Drew Gress and Tom Rainey plus string orchestra conducted by Eric Stern; one track is a duo with Nurit Tilles ; Andy Bey added for one track
1996Plays Rodgers & HammersteinNonesuchSolo piano
1997The Duo AlbumClassical ActionDuos with Jim Hall, Kenny Barron, Tom Harrell, Gary Burton, Janis Siegel a.o.
1997Thirteen WaysGMTrio Thirteen Ways with Michael Moore and Gerry Hemingway
1998Plays Thelonious MonkNonesuchSolo piano
1998Songs We KnowNonesuchDuo with Bill Frisell
1998Let Yourself Go: Live at Jordan HallNonesuchSolo piano, in concert
1999FocusPalmettoTrio Thirteen Ways with Michael Moore and Gerry Hemingway
20004 in PerspectiveVillage LifeQuartet with Norma Winstone, Kenny Wheeler and Paul Clarvis
2000Songs without WordsNonesuchSolo, with few duo, trio and quintet tracks; 3 cd set, Vol. 1 with originals, 2nd with standards and 3rd tributed to Cole Porter
2002Live at the Village VanguardPalmettoTrio with Drew Gress and Nasheet Waits in concert
2003Songs and LullabiesSunnysideDuo with Norma Winstone; three tracks with Gary Burton added
2003Fred Hersch Trio + 2PalmettoQuintet with Drew Gress, Nasheet Waits plus Ralph Alessi and Tony Malaby
2003Soothing the SensesSensory ResourcesSolo piano
2005Leaves of GrassPalmettoOctet with four horns featuring vocalists Kurt Elling and Kate McGarry singing lyrics by Walt Whitman
2005In Amsterdam: Live at the BimhuisPalmettoSolo piano, in concert; "Valentine" got Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Composition
2006Live at Jazz StandardMaxjazzDuo with Nancy King; Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album
2007Night & the MusicPalmettoTrio with Drew Gress and Nasheet Waits
2007Concert Music 2001-2006NaxosSolo, duo and trio interpretations of compositions by Hersch with pianists Natasha Paremski, Blair McMillen, the Gramercy Trio, and Hersch himself with cellist Dorothy Lawson on one track
2009Live at Jazz StandardSunnysideQuartet with Ralph Alessi, Richie Barshay and Jo Lawry, in concert
2009Plays JobimSunnysideSolo piano
2010WhirlPalmettoTrio with John Hébert and Eric McPherson
2010Everybody's Song but My OwnVenusTrio with John Hébert and Eric McPherson
2011Alone at the VanguardPalmettoSolo piano; Grammy Award nominations for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo for "Work"; DownBeat named it one of the Best CDs of 2012
2012Da VinciBee JazzDuo with Nico Gori
2012Alive at the VanguardPalmettoTrio with John Hébert and Eric McPherson
2013Free FlyingPalmettoDuo with Julian Lage ; Grammy Award nomination for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for "Song Without Words #4: Duet"
2013Only ManyCAM JazzDuo with Ralph Alessi
2014FloatingPalmettoTrio with John Hébert and Eric McPherson; Two Grammy Award nominees for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo for "You and the Night and the Music"
2015SoloPalmettoSolo piano
2016Sunday Night at the VanguardPalmettoTrio with John Hébert and Eric McPherson; Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo for "We See"
2017Open BookPalmettoSolo piano
2018 '97 @ The Village VanguardPalmettoTrio with Drew Gress and Tom Rainey in concert, recorded live in 1997
2018Live in EuropePalmettoTrio with John Hébert and Eric McPherson; Grammy nominee for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo for "We See"

As sideman