Biography

A pianist and composer whose work has received nearly universal acclaim in a career spanning over twenty years, Fred Hersch is among the foremost artists in the world of jazz today. Described as "a master who plays it his way" by The New York Times and "a poet of a pianist" by The New Yorker and "one of the small handful of brilliant musicians of his generation" by Downbeat, Hersch has released seventeen albums as a solo artist or bandleader, two of which were nominated for Grammy awards for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance; he has co-led another twenty albums and has appeared as sideman or featured soloist on over eighty further recordings.

With the release from Nonesuch Records on March 20th of an unprecedented 3-CD set of new mostly solo piano recordings, Songs Without Words, Hersch is taking his place as the most prolific and widely-praised solo jazz pianist of his generation. In this boxed set, Hersch puts his distinctive stamp on three groups of compositions: volume one features a new set of six dazzling original solo piano pieces "Songs Without Words" as well as new takes on some Hersch's best-known compositions; volume two is a collection of classic tunes by great jazz composers including Mingus, Monk, Ellington, Gillespie and Shorter; and volume three contains re-workings of songs by Cole Porter. In an review of the set for Jazziz, Ed Hazell said, "Few jazz pianists have ever struck as beguiling a balance between technique, feeling, insight and imagination...Hersch's engagement with each of these songs is so complete that he evokes the sort of secret meanings words cannot". Writer Terry Teachout commented in a feature article in the Sunday New York Times Arts & Leisure section that Hersch "improvises with the sharp conceptual clarity of a classical composer; instead of merely skimming atop the familiar chord changes of standard songs, he forges them into rigorously structured, highly personal re-creations." And Downbeat critic Ted Panken called it a "document of a modern master."

His previous Nonesuch release was Let Yourself Go, an eclectic solo recital recorded live at Boston's famed Jordan Hall. Of this CD, the Los Angeles Times said: "There isn't a false note--technically or emotionally--in the album, a tribute to Hersch's unerring ability to play music that is as intelligent as it is touching, as virtuosic as it is swinging." He had previously released five solo piano CDs. One of these, Thelonious: Fred Hersch Plays Monk was called "a personal triumph of the first order" by The Village Voice and "a landmark album" by the Washington Post, sentiments echoed by critics worldwide; and another, I Never Told You: Fred Hersch Plays Johnny Mandel, earned Hersch his second Grammy nomination. He has given major solo concerts at the Montreal, San Francisco, Rome and London Jazz Festivals; at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Spoleto USA and The Gilmore Keyboard Festival; in Boston, Seattle, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles; and in England, Northern Ireland, Holland, Scotland, Portugal, France, Germany and Italy. The London Guardian stated of one recent solo performance that it "testified to the emergence of maybe the most complete jazz-derived piano improvising style on the contemporary scene", while the New York Observer simply said, "Solo piano is a damn near impossible feat, yet Mr. Hersch seems born to it." Significant recent solo dates have included Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, and Jordan Hall in Boston. Hersch has been widely recognized in recent years for his ability to re-invent the standard jazz repertoire, investigating time-tested classics and interpreting them with keen insight, fresh ideas and extraordinary technique. This has been the focus of his acclaimed series of "songbook" releases that focus on the work of a single composer.

Since signing with Nonesuch Records 1996, Hersch has presented three such projects: Passion Flower: Fred Hersch Plays Billy Strayhorn, Fred Hersch Plays Rodgers and Hammerstein and Thelonious: Fred Hersch Plays Monk. Others include Evanessence: A Tribute to Bill Evans that featured the Fred Hersch Trio and special guests Gary Burton and Toots Thielemans. Notable recent albums include Focus, the second CD by the collaborative trio Thirteen Ways (with clarinetist/alto saxophonist Michael Moore and drummer Gerry Hemingway);Point In Time, a quintet disc featuring Rich Perry on tenor sax and trumpeter Dave Douglas; the duo CD Songs We Know with guitarist Bill Frisell; and the re-release of Hersch‚s first trio album Horizons.

When he first arrived in New York from his native Cincinnati in 1977, Hersch quickly became one of the most in-demand pianists in town. He has had long-time musical associations with such outstanding jazz artists as saxophonists Joe Henderson, Stan Getz and Jane Ira Bloom, flugelhornist Art Farmer, harmonica virtuoso Toots Thielemans, vibraphonist Gary Burton, bassist Charlie Haden, and clarinetist Eddie Daniels, and has also shared a sensitive rapport with such diverse vocalists as The Manhattan Transfer's Janis Siegel, jazz legend Andy Bey and soprano Dawn Upshaw. Since 1986, Hersch has led his own trio, giving voice to his own compositions as well as reinvigorating the standards. It has recorded six trio albums and has appeared in major clubs and festivals worldwide including regular engagements at New York's legendary Village Vanguard; The New Yorker observes that the trio "specializes in high lyricism and high danger."

An honors graduate and current member of the jazz studies faculty of Boston's New England Conservatory of Music, Hersch's classical training is "apparent in the fluency of his articulation and the timbral variety he brings to his touch," according to the Los Angeles Times. He has had a two-piano partnership with concert pianist Jeffrey Kahane, has given duo concerts with violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and he has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in the U.S. and Europe including the Pittsburgh Symphony, Utah Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Tulsa Philharmonic, Santa Rosa Symphony, BBC Radio Orchestra (London), Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra (Hungary), Sinfonietta Caracas (Venezuela) and the EOS Orchestra and Concordia Orchestra in New York City. Hersch was the subject of a TV feature profile on CBS Sunday Morning with Dr. Billy Taylor and has been featured on such popular National Public Radio programs as Morning Edition, Fresh Air, Jazz From Lincoln Center and Jazz Set; he has twice been Marian McPartland's guest on her long-running NPR series Piano Jazz. He is the recipient of grants from both The National Endowment for the Arts and Meet the Composer, is a three-time winner of a Gay and Lesbian American Music Award (GLAMA) and has been twice awarded composition residencies at The MacDowell Colony, the prestigious artists‚ colony in Peterborough, NH. In 1999 a new Hersch dance score for "Out Someplace", commissioned by The Doris Duke Foundation/Millennium Project for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, was premiered at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Between recent and upcoming engagements include a three-week British tour promoting the release of the first CD by a new co-operative group "4 In Perspective" with legendary trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, vocalist Norma Winstone and percussionist Paul Clarvis; the fifth full-week engagement at the Village Vanguard for the Fred Hersch Trio; appearances at the Toronto and Santa Fe Jazz Festivals; and a solo concert "Hersch Plays Hersch" at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall.