Fred Hersch & Esperanza Spalding - Alive at The Village Vanguard

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Time: 67:32
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 155,0 MB
Art: Front

( 9:32) 1. But Not For Me
( 7:36) 2. Dream Of Monk
( 9:03) 3. Little Suede Shoes
(12:03) 4. Girl Talk
( 6:35) 5. Evidence
( 8:29) 6. Some Other Time
( 9:37) 7. Loro
( 4:34) 8. A Wish

Alive at the Village Vanguard captures pianist Fred Hersch and vocalist Esperanza Spalding in an intimate yet inventively expressive duo performance. On first glance, the combination of Hersch (a veteran performer known for his lyrical standards work) and Spalding (a virtuoso bassist and singer known for her highly conceptual, genre-bending albums) may seem like an odd pairing.

Yet there's an unconventional, somewhat maverick, streak running through both artists, one that balances a core respect for the jazz tradition with a desire to draw inspiration from other mediums like art, poetry, and literature. It's that vibrant combination that Hersch explored on his Walt Whitman-inspired Leaves of Grass album and one which Spalding brought to her own poetry-driven concept albums like Emily's D+Evolution. That adventurous, poetic spirit also drives Alive at the Village Vanguard. Recorded in 2018 at the storied Greenwich Village club, the album finds the duo communing over a well-curated set of standards that they bend to their boldly expressive improvisational will.

While her early work touched upon standards and bossa nova favorites, Spalding's most recent albums (Twelve Little Spells and Songwrights Apothecary Lab) were more experimental in tone, stylistically closer to prog rock and avant-garde singer/songwriter pop. She doesn't play the bass here, choosing instead to dig deep into her vocals and use each song as a springboard to spin out wholly new lyrics and melodies that make each track her own. Similarly, Hersch is unfettered throughout, offering extended intros and instrumental passages that spiral outward and back again with freewheeling bliss. Together, they seem to magically stumble into unexpected flights of fancy, as when Spalding expounds upon the lyrics to "But Not for Me," analyzing and reframing lyricist Ira Gershwin's Shakespearean word choice with a gleeful sense of irony, singing "'Oh, 'Alas,' I get that one, 'hi-ho,' not so much."

Or how she expounds on Neil Hefti and Bobby Troupe's "Girl Talk," reframing the meaning of the song on the fly with a humorous, slyly feminist point of view and bold harmonic asides that Hersch never fails to underscore with his own colorfully wry chords. Elsewhere, Spalding displays her lithe vocal skills, singing Thelonious Monk's "Evidence" in wordless vocalese, punctuating her lines with a modern tap dancer's guttural swagger as Hersch twirls around her. Much more than simply a lively jazz standards album, Alive at the Village Vanguard captures these two jazz kindred spirits in joyous, creative play. By Matt Collar
https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/alive-at-the-village-vanguard-mr0005869165

Personnel: Piano, Producer – Fred Hersc; Vocals, Producer – Esperanza Spalding

Alive at the Village Vanguard

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Fred Hersch - Solo

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:39
Size: 140,5 MB
Art: Front

(12:39)  1. Olha Maria - O Grande Amor
( 7:42)  2. Caravan
( 8:50)  3. Pastorale
( 7:57)  4. Whirl
( 7:54)  5. The Song Is You
( 7:30)  6. In Walked Bud
( 8:04)  7. Both Sides Now

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, and has come back with an artistic zest, releasing since that medical crisis six excellent sets, in trio, duo or solo. Fred Hersch Solo is as graceful and beautiful set as any he has done since his recovery, a post 2008 discography that begins with Fred Hersch Plays Jobim (Palmetto, 2009), and rolls through to 2014's Floating (Palmetto), and visits in between one of his finest trio outings, Whirl (Palmetto, 2010).  Fred Hersch Solo is a set that puts the pianist's technical expertise front and center. His is an approach rich in emotion, with a nimble delicacy of touch. The set opens with a floating medley of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Olha Maria" and "O Grand Amour," a Brazilian journey that drifts in the beginning then gains strength and sense of urgency. Hersch takes the familiar "Caravan" into quirky and unfamiliar territory, and lays down a gorgeously stately homage to Robert Schumann on "Pastorale." Thelonious Monk's "In Walked Bud" is an ebullient romp, and Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" sounds as if it drifted up out of a prayer book. The "sound" of the music, recorded in a Catskills church, is warm and resonant, with a reverential tint, and Hersch, with now ten solo recordings in his discography, is in splendid form. Another jewel of a post-coma recording Fred Hersch.~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/fred-hersch-solo-fred-hersch-palmetto-records-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php

Personnel: Fred Hersch: piano

Solo

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Enrico Rava & Fred Hersch - The Song Is You

Styles: Trumpet And Piano Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:49
Size: 98,5 MB
Art: Front

(7:54) 1. Retrato em Branco e Preto
(4:17) 2. Improvisation
(5:55) 3. I’m Getting Sentimental Over You
(4:45) 4. The Song Is You
(7:09) 5. Child’s Song
(2:09) 6. The Trial
(6:47) 7. Misterioso
(3:50) 8. Round Midnight

Flashbacks pop up immediately on registering the instrumentation (flugelhorn and piano) and material (jazz standards and Great American Songbook ballads) on Enrico Rava and Fred Hersch's The Song Is You. Among them, Chet Baker and Paul Bley's Diane (Steeplechase, 1985) and Baker and Enrico Pieranunzi's The Heart Of The Ballad (Philology, 1988).

The Baker association is affirmed by The Song Is You's opening track, Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Retrato em Branco e Preto." Rava's intimate, caressing tone and Hersch's gentle accompaniment suggest that the album is not about to frighten the horses. But wait. That is only for starters. On the next track, "Improvisation," Rava and Hersch venture further out and they stay there for the rest of the disc. Chromaticism is off the menu, and lyricism is firmly centrestage, but the individual songs' harmonic structures are explored and stretched. So, too, is the historically received vibe of George Bassman's "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You," which here is so jumpy-jaunty as to border on the comical.

So, far from being simply an enjoyable wallow in nostalgia, The Song Is You travels down unfamiliar paths while, reassuringly, never losing sight of its starting points. Along the way are two originals, Rava's "The Trial" and Hersch's "Child's Song," which sit comfortably among their distinguished fellows.

Engrossing though the entire album is, the best moments are saved until last. Thelonious Monk's "Misterioso" and "Round Midnight," the latter for piano only, are exquisite. Every jazz fan probably knows each of these tunes as well as anything else one could name in the jazz standards canon, but Rava and Hersch's versions are as fresh and full of new promise as a spring morning. A quietly sensational album. By Chris May https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-song-is-you-enrico-rava-ecm-records

Personnel: Enrico Rava: trumpet; Fred Hersch: piano.

The Song Is You

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Fred Hersch - Breath By Breath

Styles: Piano Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:28
Size: 107,4 MB
Art: Front

(6:52) 1. Begin Again
(4:13) 2. Awakened Heart
(6:22) 3. Breath By Breath
(4:01) 4. Monkey Mind
(5:02) 5. Rising, Falling
(4:39) 6. Mara
(3:41) 7. Know That You Are
(5:24) 8. Worldly Winds
(6:10) 9. Pastorale

Fred Hersch’s Breath by Breath is a special album by any standard. Compositionally, the implementation of a string quartet into his pieces is breathtaking. Fred Hersch‘s Breath by Breath is a third-stream masterpiece. In addition to enlisting bassist Drew Gress and drummer Jochen Rueckert, the veteran pianist has opened the sound up to include percussionist Rogerio Boccato and all four members of the Crosby Street String Quartet. Breath by Breath sounds like a jazz piano trio album with string additions on some tracks. On others, the lines between jazz and classical music will start to blur. As the genre continues to dreamily float in some in-between zone, musical emphasis shifts between piano and string quartet. Compositionally, Hersch’s implementation of the string quartet into his pieces is breathtaking.

It turns out that Hersch had been pondering the inner workings of a string quartet for most of his life. “I grew up listening to string quartets as a very young musician in Cincinnati,” he writes in the album’s liner notes. “My piano teacher was the wife of the cellist in the famous LaSalle Quartet. I used to lie on the rug in their living room as an elementary school student while they rehearsed, quietly following along, hearing how the viola part meshed with the first violin, or the second violin and the cello.” Hersch then describes how he began studying composition at age eight. You read that right. That means Hersch has had close to 60 years to think about how best to loop a string quartet through his piano compositions or the other way around.

Of the nine pieces on Breath by Breath, eight make up “The Sati Suite”. “Sati” roughly translates to “mindfulness” or “awareness”, thus making the 40 minutes of music revolve around meditation. Some titles don’t need much explanation, like “Breath by Breath”, “Rising, Falling”, and “Know That You Are”. Others are a bit more abstract, like “Monkey Mind” and “Mara”, if you are unfamiliar with stories of the Buddha. The theme lies within the subject rather than the music itself, allowing Hersch to do whatever he likes stylistically. “Mara”, named for a god that tempted Buddha with material desires, makes Boccato the star of the show. Like clockwork, his light percussive touch is the only pulse behind cellist Jody Redhage Ferber as she introduces Hersch’s tenuous solo. The sleepy drone that Boccato creates is an atmosphere not unlike something Cyro Baptista would record for Tzadik.

The opener, “Begin Again”, leans towards the jazzier side of the third stream spectrum, though Rueckert’s beat is more Latin-influenced than swing. “Awakened Heart” is pure melancholy, starting with a molto string quartet and handing things over to Hersch as he searches for a new link between the spirit of Bill Evans and mindful meditation. “Breath by Breath” begins as a quartet piece but soon finds Rueckert escorting them with brushwork, thereby morphing into a quiet piece of lounge jazz. “Worldly Winds”, the concluding movement, sees the two approaches fully immersed with one another. The quartet get a track to themselves with “Know That You Are”, a Romantic piece of shifting chords and unclear resolution. “Monkey Mind”, named for distracting thoughts that get in the way of meditation, leaps over the Romantic era with string pizzicato and wide interval hopping from Hersch.

The one track that is not part of “The Sati Suite” is placed at the end, “Pastorale (Homage a Robert Schumann)”. Hersch begins the piece with a pretty unassuming pattern that continually rises as more and more is added to the mix. That all stops at one point and turns into a plucked string quartet melody that ushers in Hersch staccato melody. If this is an homage to “The Merry Peasant”, then said peasant must have gotten lost somewhere along the way – or took a detour to a tavern. By the time the rest of the piano trio returns, the harmony has turned to a shifting state of bewilderment. But as all conflict is soon followed by resolution, Hersch takes everything back to an agreeable place of rest with both piano and strings.

Breath by Breath is a special album by any standard. Whether one considers it a crossover project or just an enhanced jazz album, the compositions and performances can’t be improved. Together, the continuity they produce can only be enhanced from repeated listens.~ John Garratt https://www.popmatters.com/author/john_garratt

Personnel: Piano – Fred Hersch; Bass - Drew Gress; Cello – Jody Redhage Ferber; Drums – Jochen Rueckert; Viola – Lois Martin; Violin – Joyce Hammann, Laura Seaton

Breath By Breath

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Fred Hersch - Passion Flower

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1996
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:42
Size: 143,8 MB
Art: Front

(2:54)  1. Lotus Blossom
(5:21)  2. Day Dream
(7:14)  3. U.M.M.G. (Upper Manhattan Medi
(5:28)  4. Pretty Girl (The Star-Crossed
(5:02)  5. Rain Check
(7:55)  6. Something to Live For
(5:43)  7. Lament for an Orchid (Absinthe
(5:11)  8. Elf (Isfahan)
(5:10)  9. Ballad for Very Tired and Very
(3:16) 10. Tonk
(5:56) 11. Passion Flower
(3:28) 12. Lush Life

A few years ago, I went down to the Village Vanguard to check out pianist Fred Hersch. Sitting next to me in the crowded club was one of today's most popular jazz singers - also a pianist. After the first set, said jazz celeb commented that Hersch was in a different league and that she really needed to take some lessons from him. What strikes us all in Hersch's playing is his perfect blend of technique, style, and sensitivity. His version of Billy Strayhorn's "Daydream," from Hersch's 1996 Strayhorn-tribute album, Passion Flower, illustrates just how good a trio and string orchestra (arranged and orchestrated by Hersch and conducted by Eric Stern) can sound. A lot of players (and arrangers) could use lessons from Hersch. ~ Jazziz https://www.amazon.com/Passion-Flower-Fred-Hersch/dp/B000005J3W

Personnel: Fred Hersch (piano); Eric Stern (conductor); Andy Bey (vocals); Laura Seaton, Joyce Hamman, Sandra Park (violin); Lois Martin, Ruth Siegler, Alejandro Mohave (viola); Erik Friedlander, Richard Locker, Jesse Levy (cello); Nurit Tilles (piano); Drew Gress (bass); Tom Rainey (drums).

Passion Flower

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Dick Sisto, Fred Hersch - Duo Live

Styles: Vibraphone And Piano Jazz
Year: 2001
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:31
Size: 130,3 MB
Art: Front

(6:51)  1. Theme for Ernie
(6:18)  2. Francisca
(7:38)  3. I Think of You
(3:18)  4. The Chase
(5:09)  5. Maurice
(7:18)  6. Only Trust Your Heart
(6:56)  7. Infant Eyes
(6:47)  8. Evidence
(6:13)  9. Blue Monk

While vibist Dick Sisto has been compared to both Gary Burton and Milt Jackson, his own lyrical style manages to synthesize both without ever succumbing to imitation. Sisto began playing vibes in grade school and continued studying through college, eventually playing in groups that included future luminaries Maurice White and David Sanborn. After relocating to California in the early '70s, Sisto became involved in a number of projects, both within and outside of traditional jazz contexts, from backing Swami Kriyananda and poet Gary Snyder to participating in Thomas Buckner's Ghost Opera Company. Eventually establishing a base in the Midwest, Sisto added teaching to his resumé with a three-year stint at the Univeristy of Kentuky, followed by numerous clinics and educational concerts. All of this has coincided with international touring and recordings with, among others, Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, and Barry Ries. ~ Wade Kergan https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dick-sisto-mn0000215042

Personnel:  Dick Sisto - vibraphone;  Fred Hersch - piano

Duo Live

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Dick Sisto, Fred Hersch - American Love Song

Styles: Vibraphone Jazz
Year: 1995
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:21
Size: 153,0 MB
Art: Front

(5:04)  1. Falling in Love with Love
(5:13)  2. Everytime We Say Goodbye
(7:53)  3. My One and Only Love
(5:34)  4. Doxy
(5:30)  5. Little Dancer
(4:35)  6. Moments Notice
(6:11)  7. Beautiful Love
(8:00)  8. Monks Dream
(4:54)  9. Summer's Gone
(6:17) 10. If I Should Lose You
(7:05) 11. Some Other Time

Vibraphonist Dick Sisto has spent much of his adult life away from the recognized jazz centers, but his swinging approach with the Fred Hersch Trio belies this fact. This private issue covers great standards by classic songwriters, including "Falling In Love With Love" and "Beautiful Love." Sisto also successfully explores jazz compositions by John Coltrane ("Moment's Notice"), Tom Harrell ("Little Dancer"), and Sonny Rollins ("Doxy"). His soft ballad "Summer's Gone" fits right in with this enjoyable outting. ~ Ken Dryden https://www.allmusic.com/album/american-love-song-mw0000925464

Personnel: Vibraphone – Dick Sisto; Bass – Drew Gress; Drums – Tom Rainey; Piano – Fred Hersch

American Love Song

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Fred Hersch - Let Yourself Go: Live at Jordan Hall

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:18
Size: 138,2 MB
Art: Front

(8:06)  1. Black Is The Color / Love Theme From Spartacus
(7:58)  2. Speak Low
(6:35)  3. My Old Man
(7:01)  4. I Loves You Porgy
(7:39)  5. Moon & Sand
(6:41)  6. ...Departed
(4:41)  7. Let Yourself Go
(6:45)  8. Blue monk
(4:46)  9. The Nearness Of You

Fred Hersch is a well-respected session pianist and bandleader who has taught at the New School and is currently on the faculty of the New England Conservatory in Boston. This disc documents a faculty recital he played in October of 1998, a concert that was never intended to be released commercially. But Hersch, who hadn't played a full concert in public for over six months before his recital at Jordan Hall, was so pleased with this performance that he agreed to allow Nonesuch to issue it on CD. He was right. The program opens with a gently stunning rendition of the folk song "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair," which then segues into the love theme from Spartacus, a tune generally associated with the late Bill Evans, and one which Hersch plays with an impressionistic delicacy that harks back explicitly to Evans. There are other standards, including the Gershwin classic "I Loves You Porgy" and Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness of You," as well as a rather meditative rendition of Thelonious Monk's "Blue Monk," on which Hersch uses open chords in manner that evokes the Balkan modalisms of Bartok.

One of the more touching performances here is his piano arrangement of the Joni Mitchell song "My Old Man." Everything is played with virtuosic flair, but Hersch never shows off his technique or lapses into noodling self-indulgence. The result is a solo album of rare insight and musicality. Highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson  http://www.allmusic.com/album/let-yourself-go-live-at-jordan-hall-mw0000239170

Personnel: Fred Hersch (piano).

Let Yourself Go: Live at Jordan Hall

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Judy Niemack - Long As You're Living

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1996
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:42
Size: 140,1 MB
Art: Front

(5:33) 1. Long As You're Living
(4:20) 2. Waltz For Debby
(6:10) 3. The Maestro
(7:25) 4. Good Bye Pork Pie Hat
(3:13) 5. Caribbean Fire Dance
(7:10) 6. The Island
(3:31) 7. Monk's Dream
(5:01) 8. You've Taken Things Too Far
(3:38) 9. To Welcome The Day
(4:45) 10. Out Of This World
(3:48) 11. I Should Have Told You Goodbye
(6:03) 12. Infant Eyes

The term "jazz singer" has been misused so often so long that one hesitates to employ it. But if it has any meaning at all, the marvelous work of Judy Niemack is a veritable definition. She is a musician in the truest sense, having mastered her instrument (a beautiful one) and her chosen language and crafted her own style (...) There isn't one insincere or tawdry note anywhere in this fine, varied program which displays the full range of Judy Niemack's voice, imagination, and perhaps above all, taste a rare comodity in this or any other age. If you want to know what real jazz singing can be (but rarely is), listen to Judy Niemack, who never takes things too far, just far enough. ~ Dan Morgenstern http://www.judyniemack.com/albuminfo.aspx?ID=905

Personnel: Judy Niemack vocals, Fred Hersch piano, Joe Lovano tenor saxophone (on 1, 4, 8 and 11), Scott Colley bass, Billy Hart drums

Long As You're Living

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Fred Hersch - Songs From Home

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:13
Size: 131,8 MB
Art: Front

(6:09) 1. Wouldn't It Be Loverly
(5:50) 2. Wichita Lineman
(5:15) 3. After You've Gone
(7:16) 4. All I Want
(4:38) 5. Get Out Of Town
(5:47) 6. West Virginia Rose / The Water is Wide
(5:57) 7. Sarabande
(5:10) 8. Consolation (A Folk Song)
(6:04) 9. Solitude
(5:02) 10. When I'm Sixty Four

In order for solo piano playing to be maintained at a high standard, the artist must exhibit a prolific imagination, a wealth of conviction and self-assurance, note-striking precision and a firm sense of swing. Throughout his career, Fred Hersch has exhibited these qualities. Since performers (be they musicians, dancers or actors) are generally defined by their craft (otherwise they are just regular folks like the rest of us) even in these uncertain times, they continue to look for inventive ways to express themselves. Hersch found his in this self-recording from his home in rural Pennsylvania and performed on a familiar but imperfect seven foot Steinway B. He did it by bringing a new openness to an album of covers. "Many of these songs date back to the years before I even knew what jazz was," says Hersch. Hersch belongs to a coterie of jazz pianists who are musically educated and have a versatility in their work that allows them to survive in today's environment. In this eleven track recital, Hersch's overall approach is basically to be faithful to the primary themes of each composition but extend the rhythmic pattern in many ways through the improvisational process. Opening with "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," Hersch lays down a reflective structure as he putters over passages to extract his intended mood. Glen Campbell had a hit with Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman," which talks about love lost on an endless highway. Hersch states the theme then moves on, holding the original material in a standoff fashion, as he explores its contours.

The ever reliable Cole Porter invokes a well known theme in "Get Out Of Town," which Hersch approaches in a rakish upbeat fashion as he plays the theme phrase in a series of eighth notes. As the number progresses, Hersch abandons the melody and replaces it with improvised passages that he negotiates as an ever changing theme before returning to the familiar melody. As he negotiates his way through the remaining compositions, two of which, "West Virginia Rose" and "Sarabande," are is own, Hersch contemplates the structures of the pieces and finds an accessibility that offers a lucidity to their interpretation. During October, Hersch would have celebrated his 65th birthday. So he gave himself a birthday present with a re-imagining of the Lennon/McCartney classic "When I'm Sixty-Four." He uses a playful stride technique to bring the album to a close in anticipation of better days ahead. Throughout this release, Fred Hersch plays with an elusiveness and unconventionality that is meant to sustain the listener's interest, which he unfailingly does. ~ Pierre Giroux https://www.allaboutjazz.com/songs-from-home-fred-hersch-palmetto-records

Personnel: Fred Hersch: piano.

Songs From Home

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Fred Hersch - Night & the Music

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:07
Size: 142,4 MB
Art: Front

(6:34)  1. So in Love
(6:16)  2. Rhythm Spirit
(6:20)  3. Heartland
(7:28)  4. Galaxy Fragment/You and the Night and the Music
(4:11)  5. Boo Boo's Birthday
(5:33)  6. Change Partners
(5:54)  7. How Deep Is the Ocean
(5:52)  8. Gravity's Pull
(6:21)  9. Andrew John
(7:35) 10. Misterioso

Pianist Fred Hersch is proving himself to be not only a solid mainstream jazz pianist but also an imaginative and creative musical force. His Leaves of Grass (Palmetto, 2005), with vocalist Kurt Elling broke new ground by setting the poetry of Walt Whitman to written and improvised musical composition incorporating jazz and traditional "heartland American motifs. Fred Hersch Live at the Bimhuis (Palmetto, 2006) offered a panoply of solo piano music at a high level of sophistication and technique. On Night and the Music, Hersch joins forces with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Nasheet Waits, using the richly interactive and expressive piano trio format (as powerfully developed by Bill Evans and taken further by Keith Jarrett) to form a latticework of images and musical ideas that is both highly listenable and relentlessly probing. The tracks include several originals, some American Songbook standards, and two Thelonious Monk compositions. The three musicians function as a tight, integrated unit sustaining stylistic integrity and steadiness of purpose such that the total impression is that of a unified exploration of the possibilities inherent in a series of tri-alogues about a few key ideas initiated by Hersch at the keyboard. The thematics of the album are more implied than stated, encouraging and allowing the listener to bring in his or her own understanding. 

The overriding motif is the dialogue between personal human experience and the cosmos, a dualistic mythos of Enlightenment philosophy that was a recurrent preoccupation of none other than Beethoven. Thus, for example, an original called "Galaxies is combined with the standard "You and the Night and the Music. Monk's "Boo Boo's Birthday is a personal testament, while his "Misterioso haunts us with a reach towards something beyond the human, something cosmic. "Change Partners contrasts with "Gravity's Pull. And so on, in an alternating exploration of possibilities inherent in the "starry nights of both Van Gogh and the astronomers. There are also some echoes of the late Beethoven in the complex counterpoint that emerges among Hersch, Gress, and Waits as they brood together on the vicissitudes of Fate and what it all might mean. This CD is conservative in its layout of what could be a coherent nightclub set rather than a juxtaposition of discordant variation that is characteristic of some of Hersch's other recordings. A comparison with the groundbreaking Bill Evans trio's At the Village Vanguard (Riverside, 1961) is inevitable. Both are non-stop introspective explorations (coincidentally the title of one of Evans' best albums). However, Evans was undeniably a romantic, while Hersch is anything but sentimental. On this CD, the music is presented as a series of puzzles and conundrums examined with Zen-like detachment or perhaps, in another regard, the mathematical precision of J.S. Bach. One is indeed moved, but not so much by the depth of feeling as by the imposing architecture of the musical development itself. ~ Victor L.Schermer https://www.allaboutjazz.com/night-and-the-music-fred-hersch-palmetto-records-review-by-victor-l-schermer.php

Personnel: Fred Hersch: piano; Drew Gress: bass; Nasheet Waits: drums.

Night & the Music

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Bill Frisell, Fred Hersch - Songs We Know

Styles: Guitar And Piano Jazz
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:51
Size: 131,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:05)  1. It Might as Well Be Spring
(4:44)  2. There Is No Greater Love
(6:03)  3. Someday My Prince Will Come
(3:44)  4. Softly as in a Morning Rise
(5:27)  5. Blue Monk
(5:53)  6. My One and Only Love
(5:29)  7. My Little Suede Shoes
(6:19)  8. Yesterdays
(5:07)  9. I Got Rhythm
(6:31) 10. Wave
(4:22) 11. What Is This Thing Called Love

Pairing two such superior soloists as guitarist Bill Frisell and pianist Fred Hersch seems a most unlikely match. Despite having gigged together a couple times in the 1980s, the only thing the two seem to have in common is they both record for Nonesuch Records. As it turns out, it was Fred Hersch's idea to finally get the two together in the studio - and it couldn't have been a more inspired combination. The brilliant, eclectic Frisell is perhaps the most original guitarist of the last two or three decades and he's hardly ever combined his unique sound arsenal with a pianist. Hersch, on the other hand, has carved out a substantial body of work illustrating his sensitivity as a soloist and finesse as a superior accompanist (particularly for singers), yet he's almost never heard with a guitarist. The result is the marvelous new Songs We Know, a fine song cycle of contemporary jazz standards, played with a laid-back ease that only two such sharp and original stylists can bring to such well-known music. Frisell and Hersch concur that the session could have gone many different ways, but it was their mutual love for the standards, with their open palette of simplicity, history and potential for new interpretation that lead to the inspired sounds heard on Songs We Know. Both leaders have logged many miles playing these and other standards too: Frisell, as part of Paul Motian's trio with tenor giant Joe Lovano, and Hersch, through his recent Plays Monk and Plays Rogers & Hammerstein discs and, even more substantially, on his jazz-the-classics Angel recordings. But, together, Frisell and Hersch - like Bill Evans and Jim Hall did together before them bring to bear a fresh chemistry that is too rarely applied to such oft-played material. Hersch remains a melodic, sensitive even erudite explorer. And Frisell maintains his sense of humor and displays his ever-inspired internal logic. Together, they explore and experiment with the contours of each other's sound and style and arrive some place that neither might have approached on their own before. The eleven Songs We Know have many highlights. Chief among the pleasures to be heard here include the playful and unusually funky "There Is No Greater Love," where Frisell's textbook witticisms engage with Hersch's perky, almost abstract commentary. 

Likewise, Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Wave" is creative music at its most expressive: where Hersch's piano provides the soft undercurrent while Frisell's sprite, melodic tones carry the tide in, conveying the hypnotic beauty of the sea that Jobim intended. The two engage most spectacularly, and so nearly at odds, on "What is This Thing Called Love," where the metallic Frisell frolics in the warm cushions Hersch's block chords provide. Then, the pair commiserates romantically (a Hersch specialty) on the lullaby-like (a Frisell specialty) "Someday My Prince Will Come." For real fireworks, listen to how quickly the two depart from the corniness of "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise" to explore a Monk-like tango of arched, deconstructed sonorities. Then, hear how their dissimilarities are unified on the dance-like "My Little Suede Shoes," where Frisell lays down a jig style head while Hersch's interacts brilliantly with lovely tango cadences. Songs We Know is a success - and, more notably, a singularly pleasurable listening experience because it's about more than songs. It's about sounds. 

Separately, these two stylists have crafted much music that is about the creation and interaction of sounds. Together, they have achieved something special, or what Boston Globe jazz critic Bob Blumenthal calls in his excellent liner notes, "an example of how texture works to shape a performance as directly as melodic or rhythmic invention." Recorded in San Francisco last year, Songs We Know pins down the provocative sensitivity both Fred Hersch and Bill Frisell bring to creative music. But more importantly, it captures the wondrous result of two great minds spontaneously being expressed as one strong voice. It is a collection that calls out for more, hopefully an added set of the pair's originals. Until then, Songs We Know are songs creative music listeners will want to hear. ~ Douglas Payne https://www.allaboutjazz.com/songs-we-know-fred-hersch-nonesuch-records-review-by-douglas-payne.php?width=1920

Personnel:  Fred Hersch - piano; Bill Frisell - guitar

Songs We Know

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Fred Hersch - Alone at the Vanguard

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:20
Size: 163,9 MB
Art: Front

(7:25)  1. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
(7:35)  2. Down Home (Dedicated to Bill Frisell)
(8:27)  3. Echoes
(7:06)  4. Lee's Dream (Dedicated to Lee Konitz)
(7:05)  5. Pastorale (Dedicated to Robert Schumann)
(8:09)  6. Doce De Coco
(8:39)  7. Memories of You
(8:47)  8. Work
(8:04)  9. Encore: Doxy

Pianist Fred Hersch almost cashed out back in 2008, when he fell ill with AIDs-related complications and spent seven weeks in a coma. The recovery was arduous, the resumption of his wide-ranging and top-level musical artistry uncertain an uncertainty erased without a trace by Whirl (Palmetto Records, 2010), a trio set so assured, vibrant and beautiful that it would surely show up in any knowing top ten list of the best piano trio sets of the new millennium's first decade. There was a subtle change in Hersch's sound, post illness. It's what Hersch's fellow pianist, Jessica Williams (who has suffered her own health problems), calls "illness as a teacher," a focusing of intent and approach from the washing away of the peripheral and unimportant. Alone at the Vanguard is Hersch's solo piano offering, recorded on the last night of a six-night stand at the hallowed New York club where innumerable jazz greats have held court and recorded performances, resulting in classic albums. Hersch opens his set on a shimmering introduction to "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," an old American Songbook jewel that gets buffed up often. Hersch has what it takes to ignore the "never open with a ballad" advice: a supple and exquisitely-refined touch; a sharp focus on the melody; a deep sense of classical harmony; and a magical ability to get inside the tune and make it his own. Hersch's sound here has a uncommon fragility/strength dynamic, and it is serious and cerebral, with an opposing simplicity buoyed by a rich complexity, born of a lifetime's immersion in the music. On this nine-tune set, Hersch offers up four masterful originals: "Down Home," dedicated to guitarist Bill Frisell, has a jaunty, fun, light-stepping feel; "Echos" is an inward journey, hopeful and lushly harmonic; "Lee's Dream," for alto saxophone legend Lee Konitz, has a sunny, sparkling, playful vibe; and "Pastorale," dedicated to Robert Schumann, draws on Hersch's classical background. Hersch gives Jacob de Bandolim's "Doce de Coco" a sense of frisky, devil-may-care grace, and he slows down the standard "Memories of You" and turns it into a ruminative prayer. Almost all jazz pianists like to get lost inside the idiosyncratic tunes of Thelonious Monk, and Fred Hersch is no exception, but few do it as well. His study of Monk's "Work" sounds like joyous play, full of very erudite Hersch-ian turns, fun and at the same time stately, a closer that demanded an encore: Sonny Rollins' "Doxy." Hersch delivers that tune at a measured pace, drawing the sound into a timeless and bluesy wee hours mood, a majestic wrap-up of an exceptional night of music at the Village Vanguard. ~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/alone-at-the-village-vanguard-fred-hersch-palmetto-records-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php

Personnel: Fred Hersch: piano.

Alone at the Vanguard

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Fred Hersch Trio - 97 @ The Village Vanguard

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:19
Size: 134,3 MB
Art: Front

( 9:50)  1. Easy to Love
(10:06)  2. My Funny Valentine
( 6:00)  3. Three Little Words
( 5:46)  4. Evanessence
( 7:36)  5. Andrew John
( 5:48)  6. I Wish I Knew
( 5:44)  7. Swamp Thang
( 7:28)  8. You Don't Know What Love Is

Pianist Fred Hersch paid some dues at the Village Vanguard, sitting in as a sideman there from 1979 on, playing with the bands of saxophonist Joe Henderson, trumpeter Art Farmer, alto sax man Lee Konitz, and bassist Ron Carter. But he waited until 1997 to make his debut as a leader. That debut was captured on tape, and surfaces now, years later, with the Fred Hersch Trio '97's @ The Village Vanguard. Hersch's subsequent history as a leader at the Village Vanguard also runs deep, with Live At The Vanguard (Palmetto, 2003), Alive At The Vanguard (Palmetto, 2003), Sunday Night at The Vanguard (Palmetto, 2016) and a solo set, Alone At The Vanguard (Palmetto, 2011). All of these are exceptional piano jazz recordings. @ The Village Vanguard reveals how his trio artistry sounded back in the beginning. Joined by bassist Drew Gress and Tom Rainey fine sidemen and leaders themselves this is the only outing that catches this early-career Hersch trio playing live, with a set that includes the group's takes on the standards ("Easy To Love," "My Funny Valentine," "You Don't Know What Love Is") and a batch of Hersch originals, including the sparkling and spritely "Evanessence," a nod to pianist Bill Evans, to whom Hersch, early on, was often compared. Hersch's artistry like that of Evan's (like that of most seasoned and dynamic artists) has taken on a remarkable depth and focus of vision over the years. And like Evans, it started at a stunningly high level with this particular trio, featured also on a pair of Chesky Records recordings, Dancing In The Dark (1993) and Plays (1994). Hersch has always been a particularly nuanced and versatile pianist capable of propulsive drive interspersed with breathtaking delicacy and pure, time-stopping beauty documented at the very beginning of his trio recording work, with @ The Village Vanguard. ~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/fred-hersch-trio-97-at-the-village-vanguard-fred-hersch-palmetto-records-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php

Personnel: Fred Hersch: piano; Drew Gress: bass; Tom Rainey: drums.

97 @ The Village Vanguard (Live)

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Jane Ira Bloom - Mighty Lights

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1983
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:27
Size: 90,7 MB
Art: Front

(7:03)  1. 2--5--1
(7:10)  2. Lost in the Stars
(5:48)  3. I Got Rhythm but No Melody
(6:15)  4. The Man with Glasses
(7:05)  5. Change Up
(6:06)  6. Mighty Lights

This was, in a way, soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom's debut, in that it was the first of her albums to be put out by a label she did not herself own her first two records were self-produced. Even at such an early stage in her development one can hear the attention to craft that would always characterize her work, though her skills at this point were not what they would later become. Bloom's control over the horn was occasionally dubious, but she evidenced an attractive tone and a coherent (if a bit immature and self-conscious) manner of phrasing. Her tunes were already quite sophisticated and distinctive, pointing to the even more ambitious composer into which she evolved. On the other hand, her band for this album will probably not be excelled for the rest of her career. Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell are pretty heavy company for such a callow young musician to be keeping, and pianist Fred Hersch is certainly no slouch. Obviously, the rhythm section's work raises this music to a higher plane than it would have reached had not Bloom the wherewithal to engage the services of these gentlemen. ~ Chris Kelsey https://www.allmusic.com/album/mighty-lights-mw0000267377

Personnel: Jane Ira Bloom - soprano saxophone; Fred Hersch - piano;  Charlie Haden - bass; Ed Blackwell - drums

Mighty Lights

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Kate Reid - The Heart Already Knows

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:33
Size: 109,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:41)  1. Something to Live For
(3:11)  2. Confessin'
(3:15)  3. No More
(3:52)  4. Two Grey Rooms
(3:10)  5. Stars
(6:57)  6. Busy Being Blue
(4:46)  7. Just a Lucky so and So
(3:58)  8. Secret o' Life
(4:54)  9. If I Should Lose You
(5:12) 10. Minds of Their Own
(3:33) 11. Lazin' Around

The honest communication between two musicians in a performance setting can result in a very intimate and personal performance. This record features jazz vocalist Kate Reid with pianists Fred Hersch, Taylor Eigsti and guitarists Romero Lubambo, Paul Meyers and Larry Koonse. The material highlights Kate Reid in various 'feels' including swing, samba, bossa, ballad and contemporary. https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/katereid13

Personnel:  Kate Reid vocals;  Paul Meyers guitar (1,7);  Larry Koonse guitar (2,4);  Fred Hersch piano (3,9,11);  Romero Lubambo guitar (5,10);  Taylor Eigsti piano (6,8)

The Heart Already Knows

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Fred Hersch Trio - Live In Europe

Styles: Piano Jazz 

Year: 2018

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 63:56

Size: 151,3 MB

Art: Front

(5:51)  1. We See

(7:12)  2. Snape Maltings

(2:50)  3. Scuttlers

(4:48)  4. Skipping

(8:25)  5. Bristol Fog (For John Taylor)

(8:40)  6. Newklypso (For Sonny Rollins)

(6:56)  7. The Big Easy (For Tom Piazza)

(7:10)  8. Miyako

(6:43)  9. Black Nile

(5:16) 10. Solo Encore-Bluemonk

Fred Hersch's 2009 recording, Whirl (Palmetto Records), was where pure magic first occurred in the pianist's extensive and consistently superb discography. That particular outing introduced his now long-standing trio with bassist John Hebert and drummer Eric McPherson. Alive At the Vanguard (2012), Floating (2014), and Sunday Night At The Vanguard (2016) by the group followed, all on Palmetto Records. For those who lauded Hersch's solo outing, Open Book (Palmetto Records, 2017) as his finest, most incisive and finely focused outing, the pianist offers up Live In Europe, featuring his Hebert/McPherson team, to garner votes for that "Hersch's Best" slot. Performed at Flagey Studio 4, in Brussels's former National Institute for Radio Broadcasting, Hersch was initially unaware that the set which he regarded as one of his best trio performances ever had been recorded. Upon finding out that it had been and upon hearing the tape and having his belief in its extraordinary quality confirmed he decided to release the music. Spinning through Hersch's previous outings with this nine years and running trio says that they bring the "A" game every time. On Live In Europe it's an "A+" game. The players are as flexibly synchronized and adept at presenting their three-way improvisational and emotional expressionism as they could be, on a set that begins with a jittery take on Thelonious Monk's "We See."

The group follows with six Hersch originals, including tributes to British pianist John Taylor and a calypso-esque nod to saxophone legend Sonny Rollins, before slipping into the Herbie Hancock songbook with the achingly beautiful "Miyako," that gives way to an effervescent take on a second Shorter tune, "Black Nile." It's a set where Hersch sounds freer, more open to possibilities, employing the same exploratory approach he presented on the epic "Though The Forest" on his Open Book outing. And the sound must be addressed. It doesn't get any better a big plus, especially on piano trio outings. The piano is crisp, like a winter sunrise. Every nuance of McPherson's intricate and energetic drumming has crystal clarity, and Hebert's empathic and emphatic bass lines come through with a clean-cut lucidity. The show wraps it up with a solo encore of "Blue Monk," a sober and contemplative return to Monk-land, a place to which Hersch often travels.~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/live-in-europe-fred-hersch-palmetto-records-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php

Personnel: Fred Hersch: piano; John Hebert: bass; Eric McPherson: drums.

Live In Europe

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Fred Hersch Trio - Heartsongs

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1990
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:33
Size: 136,9 MB
Art: Front

(8:33)  1. The Man I Love
(3:33)  2. Fall
(6:16)  3. Lullabye
(3:13)  4. Free For Three
(5:07)  5. Heartsong
(7:36)  6. Infant Eyes
(4:26)  7. Beam Me Up
(4:31)  8. I Mean You
(5:34)  9. Evanessence
(7:00) 10. Rain Waltz
(3:39) 11. The Sphinx

Before Fred Hersch's star rose during the 1990s, resulting in several Grammy nominations, he was quietly establishing himself as one of the most lyrical up-and-coming pianists, as he demonstrates on these 1989 studio sessions. Accompanied by bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Jeff Hirschfield, he surprises the listener right away with a fresh approach to the oft-heard standard "The Man I Love," gliding over Hirschfield's adept brushwork and Formanek's soft, spacious bassline. Wayne Shorter's "Infant Eyes" also benefits from Hersch's minimalist approach, shimmering in an arrangement in which the leader and the bassist alternate solos. But Hersch best demonstrates his considerable gifts as a composer. "Heartsong" is a captivating work that he has sometimes played in a solo setting, though this trio version proves to be explosive. "Evanessence" is a gorgeous tribute to the late Bill Evans, with a superb solo by Formanek reminiscent of Scott LaFaro's fleet performances with Evans. Although Fred Hersch has made released many memorable CDs since this Sunnyside release, this fine effort is also well worth investigating. ~ Ken Dryden https://www.allmusic.com/album/heartsongs-mw0000690846

Personnel: Fred Hersch (piano); Mike Formanek (bass); Jeff Hirshfield (drums)

Heartsongs

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Fred Hersch, Jay Clayton - Beautiful Love (Remastered)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:45
Size: 141.4 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz, Piano jazz
Year: 1995/2017
Art: Front

[5:35] 1. Beautiful Love
[7:27] 2. You Don't Know What Love Is
[6:26] 3. My Heart Stood Still
[7:36] 4. So In Love
[5:19] 5. Day By Day
[6:11] 6. Wild Is The Wind
[4:33] 7. Everthing I Love
[7:22] 8. Footprints
[6:11] 9. Blame It On My Youth
[5:01] 10. I Love You

Jay Clayton - vocals; Fred Hersch - piano.

Jay Clayton has been a leader in applying avant-garde, creative modern techniques to the art of jazz vocal. She has been successful in this commendable objective ever since her first album as a solist in 1980, where a 25-year-old Jane Ira Bloom was a major partner. Although working with a play list of classic standards, except for Wayne Shorter's jazz standard "Footprints," Clayton has by no means set aside her modern jazz vocal leanings. Joined by Fred Hersch a pianist with like perspectives, they work in tandem to present this familiar music in an offbeat non-familiar way. This is not to say that lovely melody lines are lost among cacophonies of grunts, groans, and other extra terrestrial events. The lyrical lines are there, but the tempo, the phrasing, the emphasis has been rearranged so the light of these tunes is refracted through a prism rather than through a window of ordinary glass. Full fledged avant-garde comes, as one would expect, on Shorter's "Footprints," where Clayton engages in wordless vocalizing reminiscent of the vocal part in Hector Villa-Lobas "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5," with Hersch doing a marvelous job replacing the cellos as the voice accompaniment. This is seven minutes of remarkable virtuosity. "Regular" standards, such as "Blame It on My Youth," are treated with respect as Clayton plays little games with the melody line and chordal structure and inserts wordless vocalizing here and there. "Beautiful Love" is introduced slowly by Clayton a cappella before moving into a medium lilting tempo. Not much here ever gets beyond that pace. This album is thoughtful and is for those who want to hear the full measure of a song, with nothing skipped, casually dismissed, or unknowingly overlooked. Highly recommended. ~Dave Nathan

Beautiful Love                

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Anat Cohen & Fred Hersch - Live In Healdsburg

Size: 142,5 MB
Time: 61:30
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2018
Styles: Jazz
Art: Front

01. A Lark (Live) ( 8:22)
02. Child's Song (Live) ( 7:21)
03. Isfahan (Live) ( 8:05)
04. Jitterbug Waltz (Live) ( 8:16)
05. Lee's Dream (Live) ( 5:20)
06. The Peacocks (Live) (10:24)
07. The Purple Piece (Live) ( 8:27)
08. Mood Indigo (Live) ( 5:12)

On their debut recording as a duo Live In Healdsburg, Anat Cohen and Fred Hersch, two of most prolific and celebrated artists in jazz today display qualities they have in abundance: empathy, open hearts, big ears, quick instincts, and an ego-less approach to the music. These two expert collaborators combine virtuosity and beauty, which permeates every note they play. Live In Healdsburg comes on the heels of Anat's Tentet recording, Happy Song, and her two Grammy nominated Brazilian albums, Outra Coisa: The Music of Moacir Santos (with 7-string guitarist Marcello Gonçalves) and Rosa Dos Ventos (with Trio Brasileiro). For Fred Hersch, Live In Healdsburg is the follow up recording to his latest CD, the double Grammy nominated Open Book (his 7th and 8th nominations). This album with Ms. Cohen is the latest release in a stunningly deep discography that dates back to the 1980s and encompasses more than twenty albums as a leader, and the publication of his autobiography Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In and Out of Jazz.

Live In Healdsburg

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