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Jazz Articles about Fred Hersch
Fred Hersch: The Touch of Genius
by Ken Dryden
The sound of Fred Hersch at the piano is so distinctive, a couple of bars is usually enough to identify him. The mainly self-taught Cincinnati native excelled early, playing jazz in his home town before leaving to study with pianist Jaki Byard at the New England Conservatory of Music. From there, Fred moved to New York City, immersing himself by attending live performances and getting invitations to play with still living greats who were willing to give the young man ...
Continue ReadingFred Hersch Trio at Smoke
by Paul Reynolds
Fred Hersch Trio Smoke Jazz Club New York, NY March 13, 2026 Pianist Fred Hersch is making a welcome return to trio work after years in which he all but put aside one of his most favored formats. After recording a half-dozen trio albums in the 2010s, Hersch took a break until The Surrounding Green (ECM Records, 2025), his first new trio recording in seven years, which featured Drew Gress and Joey Baron--both long-time partners of the pianist. ...
Continue ReadingImprovisation Versus Composition
by Robert J. Lewis
What is it that attracts music lovers to jazz (improvised music)? Is it the loose structure, or the beat or the notes and melodies we have never heard before and will never hear again, unless the performance has been recorded? Or is it the musician's uncanny ability to spontaneously translate feelings that inform the notes into the language of music? Perhaps it is the musician's audacity and courage --daring to play without a script; to make it up as he ...
Continue ReadingFred Hersch: A Lifetime Of Meditation At The Piano
by Frank Housh
Fred Hersch has spent nearly seven decades mediating at the piano. In his candid memoir, Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In And Out Of Jazz (Crown Archetype Press, 2017), Hersch described how he creates music. He wrote: I sit down, settle onto the piano stool, and see what kind of mood I'm in. Sometimes when playing with my trio I will ask them what they feel like starting with--a nice surprise for me, as ...
Continue ReadingFred Hersch: The Surrounding Green
by Doug Collette
Taken together, Fred Hersch's first two albums for ECM Records can be seen as a bid for recognition as the preeminent pianist in contemporary jazz. The solo work of Silent, Listening (ECM, 2024) complements the trio work on The Surrounding Green, their individual and combined impact heightened by release on the vaunted label in successive years. As much as the former depicts Hersch's touch for nuance, the latter is a display of the equally subtle mutual empathy he ...
Continue ReadingFred Hersch: The Surrounding Green
by Jack Kenny
Fred Hersch's The Surrounding Green , his third release for ECM Records, is a testament to the art of the piano trio, combining lyrical introspection with sophisticated interplay. Recorded in May 2024 at Lugano's Auditorio Stelio Molo under Manfred Eicher's meticulous production, the album features Hersch on piano, Drew Gress on double bass and Joey Baron on drums. Their decades-honed chemistry gives the album musical maturity, creating a sound that is both intimate and expansive. The album's seven ...
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