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Fred Hersch: Solo
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Fred Hersch is celebrating his sixtieth birthday year in style, with a week of performances at the legendary Village Vanguard, his debuts at the Newport Jazz Festival and Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the release of Fred Hersch Solo. The achievement of surviving six decades is noteworthy, poignant and auspicious considering Hersch's near-communion with death in 2008, when he was placed in a medically-induced coma for 40 days as part of a fight against HIV-induced dementia. But Hersch survived, ...
Continue ReadingFred Hersch: Solo
by Mark Sullivan
To paraphrase the famous remark Miles Davis made about Bill Evans, Fred Hersch plays the piano the way it ought to be played. This album documents a live performance from August, 2014, which was not originally intended for release. But when Hersch listened to it, he changed his mind. “I firmly believe this may be the all-around best solo album I've ever done, “ he says. “I liked the piano and the environment of playing in a small wooden church ...
Continue ReadingFred Hersch: Solo
by Dan Bilawsky
When it comes to the art of solo piano in jazz, there are currently two classes of performers: Fred Hersch and everybody else. A statement such as that might spur the jazz cognoscenti to ready the pitchforks and torches, but that threat doesn't make that claim any less true. Keith Jarrett may surpass all in his ability to pull completely improvised music out of thin air, Brad Mehldau's brilliance certainly shines through when he weaves his two ...
Continue ReadingThe Fred Hersch Trio at FlynnSpace
by Doug Collette
The Fred Hersch Trio FlynnSpace Burlington, Vermont February 27, 2015 Even when FlynnSpace is completely sold out, as it was February 27th for The Fred Hersch Trio, this downstairs venue never feels crowded. The audience is usually seated, as it was for this frigid Friday night, on three sides of a stage only slightly elevated, so that the performer and the attendees are all on the same level. During Hersch & Co's show, everyone in ...
Continue ReadingFred Hersch: My Coma Dreams
by Alberto Bazzurro
Fred Hersch, Herschel GarfeinMy Coma Dreams Palmetto Records* * * ½ L'antefatto è il seguente: nel 2008 Fred Hersch, com'è noto da tempo affetto da AIDS, è stato colpito da una grave forma di polmonite, per cui i medici hanno deciso di porlo in uno stato di coma indotto in modo da evitare danni ai tessuti fino a che non fossero riusciti a debellare il male. Una volta recuperato uno stato di salute accettabile, ...
Continue ReadingFred Hersch Trio: Floating
by Maurizio Zerbo
Fred Hersch è ormai divenuto uno dei principali protagonisti del piano jazz contemporaneo. Per questo motivo ogni suo progetto ingenera molte aspettative da parte di pubblico e critica. Floating non sembra essere all'altezza delle magistrali prove discografiche di cui il Nostro si era reso protagonista in passato. A scanso di equivoci, il suo pianismo si sprigiona con la consueta souplesse alla ricerca di soluzioni melodiche colloquiali e schiettamente comunicative. Forse il recensore si sbaglia, ma il pianoforte appare privato del ...
Continue ReadingFred Hersch: My Coma Dreams
by Victor L. Schermer
My Coma Dreams Music composed by Fred Hersch Conceived, Written, and Directed by Herschel Garfein Palmetto Records 2014 If you were a composer, would you write a piece of music based on your experience of being unconscious for 40 days in a medically-induced coma? The answer is probably “No!" You'd want to forget the whole ordeal--unless you're a pioneering pianist and composer who is always expanding his reach and ...
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