Yaron Herman: An Urgent Need to Play

Jean-Marc Gelin

Contributor since 2009

Journalist on the French magazine "Jazz Magazine," publisher of the website and webzine "les dernieres Nouvelles du Jazz" jouralist on the French radio Jazzbox 93.1 FM.

Recent articles (5 total)

Published: August 26, 2009

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YH: Quite simply. He was programmed to play with Jacky Terrasson Jacky Terrasson
b.1966
piano . One evening Jacky couldn't be here and Christophe Deghelt [agent for Terrasson and Herman] suggested that I replace him. It instantly clicked between us.

AAJ: You are young and there are already lots of cliché about you.

YH: Really; which ones?

Yaron Herman Trio

AAJ: There isn't a single review that doesn't refer to your precocious genius, and to your time as a basketball player. They even say you are the new Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett
b.1945
piano . Aren't you fed up with all that fuss?

YH: No. First, because I don't read the newspapers; mainly, I am very concerned about progressing, playing the piano better, make better music and in substance becoming a better human being. I don't want to waste my time with that. Also, the view that people have of me is determined by things that are sometimes out of my control. My duty is to get up in the morning, play the piano and get closer to what I have in my head, knowing that it is my life.

AAJ: Playing the piano and becoming a better human being, are those two linked?

YH: For me, music and life are inseparable. This is why I love Keith Jarrett's music. Not only his music but his approach to music. He is the reason why I started piano. He says: music doesn't come from music. By that he means that you have first to work on yourself and then the music will come naturally. You are going to grow as a human being and you will be able to open the doors to creativity. If you work the music for the music only, you will soon find yourself in a deadlock situation.

AAJ: Aren't you worried to fall into total introspection?

YH: This is far from introspection. But anyway, introspection is a must for anybody, musician or otherwise. Without introspection you don't know who you are. It is necessary in order to be able to better communicate. How can you communicate with the world if you don't know yourself? When you start looking at yourself, and at what is preventing you from going forward, then you inevitably open up. You get rid of the things that are stopping you.

AAJ: Does it become a never ending quest?

YH: Absolutely. This is why I have problems analyzing what I have done. I walk forward, I never stop to look at the past. I don't care. These clichés really give me satisfaction. But in reality they are not my main worry.

AAJ: The opening that you are referring to, is it also an opening to the public?

YH: Yes and no. I am very skeptical when a musician says that he "gives to his public." This automatically means also that there are things that he doesn't give, that he keeps for himself. I consider that playing in front of a public is interactive and not unilateral. I try to take from the public as much as I give them. In an ideal situation, if all goes well, if all the conditions are met, what I feel one second before I play, the public should feel one second after I've played it. Of course they won't feel exactly what I feel myself because for them those are just notes, but they should feel the motive that was behind it. This is exactly what I try to communicate. One doesn't play music just for the pleasure of writing notes. There is an urgency, the need to express oneself.

AAJ: Have you already got ideas for your next album ?

YH: I have a few ideas....

AAJ: With the same people ?

YH: We'll see...

Selected Discography

Yaron Herman, Variations (Laborie Jazz, 2006)
Yaron Herman, A Time or Everything (Laborie Jazz, 2007)
Yaron Herman, Muse (Laborie Jazz, 2009)