Thomas Heberer - The Day That Is (October 22, 2021 Sunnyside Records)

The dramatic events of the past two years have altered the social and political landscape of the world. The pandemic had the world’s population reeling. Performing artists were particularly affected by COVID-19, as their livelihood was taken away from them in one fell swoop. Veteran trumpeter, improviser, and composer Thomas Heberer took the opportunity while sequestered in his New York City home to compose and coordinate the recording of his new album, The Day That Is.

Well known for his work in the improvisatory jazz world with the likes of the Instant Composers Pool and the Nu Band, Heberer has been focused on showcasing his artistic breadth. His knowledge of the jazz tradition is encyclopedic and his open approach to the music proves just as catholic. The past few years have seen Heberer look more and more to the music of bebop, post-bop, and the New Thing as much as the free music he has long been associated with.

Heberer knew that he wanted to write for a quartet composed of two horns and a rhythm section of bass and drums on his new project, returning to an ensemble size he had familiarized himself with in the 1990s with the group Tome XX. As a fifteen-year member of the New York creative music scene, Heberer was in a perfect place to select a group of musicians who he trusted to interpret his vision and to provide the special, spontaneity that the music requires.

The trumpeter had long been a fan of drummer Michael Sarin, whom Heberer had initially heard with the late, great woodwind master Thomas Chapin. A partnership began to flourish when Heberer joined Sarin in the faculty at Maine Jazz Camp, where they began performing together regularly. Heberer got to know bassist John Hébert as a member of Angelica Sanchez’s Nonet. Hébert’s brilliant musicianship and warm, Southern vibe made him a perfect collaborator. The trio came together for a handful of sessions and a number of live performances prior to the pandemic.

Heberer took some time to decide on the other horn voice, eventually deciding to call on fellow German expat and saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock. Heberer has known Laubrock for years and had long appreciated her strategic, compositional minded approach to music making.

The concept for The Day That Is was born just before the pandemic but was accelerated once Heberer’s touring schedule came to a halt. At home, Heberer fell back into his rigorous practicing and composing routines. By the summer of 2020, he realized that the social isolation might last for some time, so he decided to be proactive and have something to show for his time spent at home. The leader’s pieces focused on a number of compositional elements, including ambiguous sounding symmetrical scales. He was also cognizant of providing different parameters for each piece and the architecture of the album as he put the program together. Heberer began to contact the other musicians in the fall to align schedules.

December saw the quartet assemble for the first time to rehearse at the Michiko rehearsal studios in New York’s deserted Midtown. The situation felt particularly ominous as the musicians had to socially distance and cover their horns.

The quartet were joined by engineer David Stoller at the Samurai Hotel recording studio on January 6th, totally unaware of the events that were about to unfold in Washington, DC. As the recording proceeded, Hébert kept the participants abreast of what was happening at the Capitol Building. The group remained focused but alert as they went through the day, only realizing the full magnitude of the insurrection later.

The program begins with the title track, a compressed 6-bar composition that utilizes an ambiguous tonality to allow the improvisations to travel in any direction. Inspired by a sauntering camel ride he had on a visit to Morocco, Heberer’s “Erg Chebbi” echoes the atmosphere of Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington’s “Caravan.” The pseudo ballad “Seconds First” is inspired by the compositional ideas of Andrew Hill and allows the melody to move from trumpet to sax to bass, in a tense but beautiful harmony. The propulsive “Caro Pook” is named for Heberer’s friend, the German composer. It is a piece custom built for Sarin’s unique rockingly swinging drumming and group improvisation, keeping all ensemble members fully occupied.

Heberer’s “Then There Were Three” is an unusually structured piece that presents three independent parts coming together to build into a programmatic long form composition with an extended solo from Sarin. The beautiful melody of “The Sleeping Bag Unfolds” pairs the trumpet of Heberer alongside Laubrock’s soprano sax. The tune’s title refers to Heberer and his wife’s promise to isolate from each other in sleeping bags if necessary during the pandemic. “Closing the Gap” is a brief interlude inspired by the binary musical world of improv/jazz legend Steve Lacy. Dedicated to a departed friend who invited Heberer to East Germany as the Wall fell, “Jimi Metag” is slightly dark and mysterious, an allusion to the dark side of the pseudo- socialist experiment of East Germany.

Composed prior to the pandemic for the Nu Band, “One for Roy” was written for trumpeter Roy Campbell, whose chair Heberer took over when the Downtown legend passed away. The piece splits the ensemble into two, sax with trumpet and bass with drums, with two independent scores which allow the music to overlay at its own pace. “Mapping the Distance” is built over a symmetrical scale ostinato and is a vehicle for solos from Sarin and Laubrock. The program concludes with “The Sky Above,” a gorgeous coda written in a richly harmonious Bill Evans style.

The crazy years of the Trump presidency and the political challenges they amplified had the world on edge. The addition of the pandemic only heightened the tension. Thomas Heberer aimed to provide art that was the opposite of the “ideals” trumpeted during these times. The Day That Is presents music concerned with sharing and creating together, fighting the ideals of those who decided to attack the Capitol Building on that day in January 2021. 

1. The Day That Is

2. Erg Chebbi

3. Seconds First

4. Caro Pook

5. Then There Were Three

6. The Sleeping Bag Unfolds

7. Closing The Gap

8. Jimi Metag

9. One for Roy

10. Mapping The Distance

11. The Sky Above

Thomas Heberer - trumpet

Ingrid Laubrock - tenor & soprano saxophones

John Hébert - bass

Michael Sarin - drums

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The Bill Evans Guitar Project - Echoes of Bill (July 20, 2021)

On July 2, 2000 John Hebert, Bruce Hall, Rez Abbasi and I got together to play some Bill Evans tunes in Bruce Hall's Brooklyn home studio. Bruce was recording into a now-obsolete digital recording platform (mini disc) at the time, there was a lot of mic bleed, small room, mini-disc....it wasn't Avatar. Despite this the end product sounds remarkably good. Bruce did some beautiful playing and some beautiful engineering here. As far as any of us can remember we just got together to record in this two guitar configuration that one time although we had all played together on many different gigs and recording projects...in a lot of ways New York was and is a small town. We were pretty much reading through some Evans tunes, coming up with quick arrangements, recording and moving on to the next tune. It's got a really nice vibe and for all you guitar players, Rez is absolutely burning.

We met at Bruce's house, read through some tunes, hung out afterward, did a lot of bullshitting and for the next 20 years didn't give the recording much thought, if any. Then...about a year ago Bruce remixed the tunes we recorded and sent us all a copy. It was an emotional experience for me to hear this so many years later and I think for the others as well. All the great memories I have of playing with these stellar musicians, all the miles between then and now, the gratitude that I felt and still feel to these musicians that I admire and respect for including me and for the commitment, heart, soul and talent they put into any and all music that they make. I think you can hear all that in this recording. We got it mastered through Gene Paul at GandJ Audio - Gene and Joel Kerr did a freaking great job on that. Huge thanks to Bruce Hall for his hosting, playing and engineering.

Bruce Saunders / July 16, 2021

1. Bill's Hit Tune 05:11

2. Children's Play Son 04:57

3. Twelve Tone Tune 03:47

4. Re: Person I Knew 06:06

5. Showtype Tune 05:07

Rez Abbasi - Guitar

Bruce Hall - Drums/Engineer

John Hébert - Bass

Bruce Saunders - Guitar

Recorded S. Portland St, Brooklyn, NY on July 2, 2000

Recorded and Mixed by Bruce Hall

Mastered by G and J Audio

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Benoît Delbecq 4 - Gentle Ghosts (June 2021 Jazzdor)

The founding of Delbecq 4 traces back to November 2003, a few years after New York pianist Ethan Iverson had introduced Benoît Delbecq’s work to saxophonist Mark Turner. Turner joined the Delbecq Unit – a quintet which also featured Oene Van Geel, Mark Helias and Emile Biayenda – for its premiere at the 2003 Strasbourg Jazz d’Or Festival. The ensemble recorded Phonetics for the Vancouver-based label Songlines. This release affirmed Delbecq’s prowess as a leader and garnered such wide-ranging acclaim as the Choc de l'Année 2004 Jazz'man and a sprawling piece by celebrated New York Times critic Ben Rattlif.

In 2008, the young in-demand bassist John Hébert – New Yorker by way of Louisiana, and a fan of Delbecq's work – proposed the formation of a new trio with Delbecq and drummer Gerald Cleaver. Both artists had worked together as the final rhythm section for legendary pianist Andrew Hill. The John Hébert trio released acclaimed albums Spiritual Lover (2010) and Floodstage (2014) for Cleanfeed Records, touring across France and the United States.

The Delbecq 4 unites Turner and Delbecq, spotlighting a musical relationship marked by a compelling empathy that blossomed within Hébert’s trio. In 2016, the quartet premiered at Cornelia Street Café in New York City’s West Village, later recording Spots on Stripes (Cleanfeed, 2019) at Trading8s studio in New Jersey. The release received peer acknowledgment and international praise.

Delbecq 4 toured France, Switzerland and Belgium in spring as well as fall of 2019. Following their concert at the Philharmonie de Paris at Jazz à la Villette Festival, the collaborators recorded Gentle Ghosts in a single day at MidiLive studio near Paris; director Igor Juget captured the session on film. As he always does for his own projects, Delbecq served as composer for the entire recording which includes two of his older tunes, one of which he wrote for Turner in 2002.

A delicate use of electronics refines Delbecq’s search for new musical vibrations. Sitting at the piano with a midi foot pedal on the ground, Delbecq uses a real-time recording program of each instrumentalist’s microphone – sometimes of the entire quartet mix – a process he calls “post-radiophonic.” Consequently, the musicians as well as the listener dive into the revisiting of micro-musical miniatures after having heard them a brief moment earlier. Such ear attitude creates a mutation feel, as these miniatures are re-injected into the quartet's playing and overall sound, a playful process that crafts new states of music. This signature approach serves and expands Delbecq’s role of real-time “remixer,” one he established on Plug and Pray with Jozef Dumoulin and Ambitronix with Steve Argüelles, who previously assumed the same role on Delbecq’s albums Pursuit (Songlines, 2000) and Poolplayers (Songlines, 2007) with Arve Henriksen.

Delbecq has received support throughout his long-term, evolving sonic arcs from such crucial musicians as Mal Waldron, Steve Lacy, Paul Bley, Steve Coleman, György Ligeti or Pascal Dusapin, as well as from venues and festivals that are particularly championing of his sound and approach, such as Jazz d’Or Strasbourg, Europa Jazz Le Mans, the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, the Wroclaw Jazztopad and the Sud des Alpes in Geneva, among other international performance hubs. The Parisian pianist continues to work diligently toward his original musical visions. He is as curious about architecture as he is about the properties of imaginary numbers; he loves Thelonious Monk as much as the music of the Aka pygmies, Paul Bley as much as Domenico Scarlatti, Ornette Coleman as much as Claude Monet. He is a free and active musician who has traveled the international jazz scene since the early 90s.

Over the past three decades, Delbecq has built a fuss-free career, for he is unaffected by fashions and seductive strategies, his career being fostered by a vibrant momenta and the transmission of a musical language. His inspiration emerges from critical thinking and persistent research, and his expression praises collective, inventive forms and sounds in movement served by the exceptional voices of his fellow improvisers. All these elements invite his listeners into a kind of rhythmic and melodic mirage-like music – Gentle Ghosts – a music that questions our own history, our own memory. The sound of Benoît Delbecq is one that quietly influences the jazz of tomorrow. 

1. Anamorphoses 06:11

2. Chemin sur le Crest 06:15

3. Gentle Ghosts 05:43

4. Strange Loop 09:10

5. Stereo Fields 05:38

6. Le même jour 07:00

7. Havn 02:59

All compositions are by Benoît Delbecq (Sacem).

Recorded by Samuel Navel on September 3, 2019 at MidiLive, Villetaneuse, Paris.

Piano technician : Philippe Bailleul.

Mastered by Klaus Sheuermann at studio 4ohm, Berlin.

Produced and mixed by Benoit Delbecq.

Executive producer: Philippe Ochem for Jazzdor Series.

Photo: John Rogers

Graphic design: Helmo

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Tony Malaby - Cellar Notes (2021)

I never had the opportunity to document this quartet, so I am happy that I can now share these live sets from Cornelia St. Cafe. At the time of these recordings, I was leading the groups Tamarindo, Apparitions, and Paloma Recio, as well as many sideman projects, several of which featured Ralph Alessi and John Hébert . The three of us were yearning for an outlet to stretch out in a casual, relaxed setting with no predetermined solo order, solo length or complicated road maps. When I was offered a weekend at Cornelia Street, I jumped at the chance and called Billy Drummond.

I put together four books of tunes that were laying around the pad, mostly by peers such as Chris Lightcap, Angelica Sanchez, Dave Scott, Michael Attias, Eivind Opsvik, and Billy Mintz. We filled out the book with Ralph and John’s tunes, along with some Ornette, Frisell, Motian, and Sidney Bechet. At the time I called it “The Reading Band.” Drew Gress often subbed for Hébert . This group never played to an empty room. Please follow us here at Bandcamp and enjoy Cellar Notes.

1. Ralph and the Red Head (Dave Scott), Blind Pig (John Hébert), Flight (Billy Mintz) 29:31

2. Mirror Me (Angelica Sanchez), Humpty Dumpty (Ornette Coleman), Endless(Paul Motian) 21:17

3. Cajun Christmas (John Hébert) 10:59

Tony Malaby - Tenor Saxophone

Ralph Alessi - Trumpet

John Hébert - Bass

Billy Drummond - Drums

Recorded by Scott Friedlander

Mastered by Eivind Opsvik

Cover Art by Tim Berne

Recorded Live at Cornelia St. Cafe on March 13, 2009

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Simon Nabatov Quintet - Plain (February 2021)

Let's be clear from the start. There's nothing "plain" about the new recording by Simon Nabatov, if by plain you mean "not attractive" or "undistinguished". Nabatov clarifies: "in Plain I was consciously looking for that minimum of compositional conditions which would provide an interesting work frame. I mean "plain" as in simple, understandable, approachable - not as primitive or boring, and hoped to walk this thin dividing line (hopefully on the right side)." Be assured he has succeeded magnificently. Unsurprising really when you consider his background. Since leaving the Soviet Union in 1979 aged 20, Nabatov has brought a breathtaking finesse to a staggering range of styles, equally at home in modern jazz, free improvisation, the canons of Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols, and Brazilian music, as well as his own works which defy easy classification.

Plain is the second in an ongoing series of recordings (after 2019's excellent Last Minute Theory) in which Nabatov reconnects with the NYC scene after some 30 years, enthused by the increasing profile there for challenging music. He's recruited some of the city's finest talents for this session. Having worked twice with Chris Speed in the past he knew he wanted the reedman on board. "I’ve been a big fan for a long time. Love his clarinet sound, love this instrument." And of course it recalls Nabatov's first significant gig with the late clarinetist Perry Robinson. Alongside him is trumpeter Herb Robertson, a consummate player who's made a career out of avoiding the obvious, who appeared on Nabatov's The Master And Margarita (Leo, 2001).

"He is definitely one of the unsung heroes of this music." Anchoring the band is the formidable tandem of Tom Rainey and John Hébert, a staple from the bands of Kris Davis and Ingrid Laubrock. While Nabatov's alliance with Rainey is longstanding, he's never performed with Hébert before. That fits the template: "The idea is to have on board at least one or two I never played with, but enjoyed their musicianship for some time."

That push-pull between familiarity and the unknown finds its echo in the material which mixes mood-morphing pieces with others where a narrative is more easily discerned. But whatever the conception, the outcome is thrilling. The mutable title track begins with a coolly elegant duet between Nabatov and Speed, on that clarinet, before becoming by turns portentous, rhapsodic, choppy and sparkling. Like all the charts here it contains more than enough leeway for the starry cast to lean into, and their sensitivity, commitment and exceptional prowess prove a continual pleasure as they ease gracefully between unfettered expression and precise notation.

Each number is its own world, often embracing similar juxtapositions. That's evident on "Copy That" where the tightly coiled theme is set amid lightly plotted interplay which includes a bristling tenor/trumpet exchange, and on "Cry From Hell" where the jaunty melody is bookended by inspired ensemble give and take. If you detect a Brazilian flavour here you would not be wrong. Nabatov is a mad keen fan of the country's popular music, and visits regularly. "The core tune is written in the genre "Choro" - a very popular instrumental genre born in Rio de Janeiro in the 1870s. The Portuguese word "choro" means a cry. And since it’s not exactly a clean authentic reading of the music - why not a somewhat ironic title?"

"Rambling On", the only improv on the date, envelops a text by Robertson, delivered through a bullhorn. "I felt its harsh nature would be a good contrast to the rest of the program. It has the compelling nature of a passionate (political?) statement, reflecting something of the zeitgeist of today." Nabatov rounds off the album with an urbane rendition of Herbie Nichols' "House Party Starting". As he explains, "It displays my take on "plain" perfectly - no hip arrangement, an unadorned, soothing conclusion."

What better way to finish. John Sharpe

1. Plain 12:00

2. Copy That 08:38

3. Cry From Hell 06:50

4. Break 07:42

5. Ramblin' On 03:03

6. Slow Thinker 10:29

7. House Party Starting 07:30

Chris Speed - tenor saxophone, clarinet

Herb Robertson - trumpet, cornet, voice

Simon Nabatov - piano

John Hébert - bass

Tom Rainey - drums

all music by Simon Nabatov (GEMA)

except track 5 (collective improv on the text of Herb Robertson)

and track 7 by Herbie Nichols

recorded June 1 2019 at the Trading8s Studio, New Jersey

recorded by Christopher Sulit, mixed and mastered by Stefan Deistler

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Russ Lossing - Metamorphism (2021 Sunnyside Records)

The ultimate goal for most composers is to make the complicated seem effortless. It takes a great deal of individual talent and an incredible amount of trust in your ensemble mates to accomplish this feat. Pianist Russ Lossing’s brilliant work has long been appreciated for its complex blend of rhythmic, harmonic and chance elements that are highly approachable and resonant.

Lossing’s latest recording, Metamorphism, is an extension of his continually evolving compositional identity. Here he presents eight original compositions, each written with its own particular strategy for interplay among a stalwart ensemble of longtime collaborators. It is only with musicians with whom he has established a deeply felt musical connection that this music could actually be realized.

The members of the Quartet have been regular collaborators with Lossing for decades. Each member of the ensemble is a unique instrumentalist with a broad palette and ability to play many styles without conforming to established sounds. Lossing met Michael Sarin some thirty years ago when the drummer moved to New York City from Seattle. Sarin’s pairing with bassist John Hébert, already a longtime associate, provides a variety of rhythmic and harmonic feels necessary for Lossing’s pieces. Lossing was a member of Loren Stillman’s first recorded ensemble, when the saxophonist was only 14 years old, and their musical affinity has grown exponentially over the past 25 years.

The ensemble is crucial to the success of the pieces. The open, impressionistic sensation of Lossing’s tunes has been one that he has always aimed for. The only method of achieving a sensation of naturalness is by allowing the other players a freedom of choice, which means avoiding the temptation to over arrange the pieces. The key is to leave the technical stuff in the background, while focusing on ensemble communication and expression.

The recording begins with the insistent “Three Treasures,” a piece that utilizes call and response patterns based on a theme that repeats itself after variations over a dramatic pedal point in Hébert’s bass. The oldest and most difficult piece is “Sojourn” which features a very technical polyrhythmic motif and a melody that lays across bar lines, making for a particular out-of-time feel. Stillman’s singing alto and Sarin’s flexible drumming style are vital to the success of the performance. The title track is written as a tribute to, and in the intervallic composing style of, the late great drummer/composer Paul Motian. The title of the piece is not only a metaphor for the metamorphosis of an improvisational piece, like a stone - through heat and pressure, it was also Mr. Motian’s email address.

Unlike many of the other pieces presented here, the thematic “Mai” sticks to its tricky compositional form and changes rather than going free during improvisations, an aspect of jazz music performance that is amazing especially as it is carried out in the composer’s intended floating style, as it is done here. “Pileatus” is a short, rhythmic piece, used here as a drum feature for Sarin, and whose title is derived from the scientific name of the Pileated Woodpecker, a species that is common in Lossing’s backyard. The quietly introspective “Blind Horizon” is a tribute to the late pianist/composer Andrew Hill. The piece takes a single idiosyncratic chord that Hill played repeatedly throughout his career to generate the melodic content while transforming the arrangement from structure, where Stillman shines over harmonic changes, into an open, spacy place reminiscent of, but not owing to, Hill’s spacious style.

The dancing melody for “June Jig” was worked from an improvisation that Lossing recorded into his computer with a MIDI keyboard, which was then notated and reworked a number of times by hand and through the notation software Finale until it became this dynamic ensemble piece. The program ends with “Canto 24,” a piece that uses a 13 measure cycle, each measure with a different time signature (much like in Indian classical music), with each instrument playing the unison melody until the cycle breaks, allowing individual improvisations and only bringing back the melody with Stillman at the end while Hébert and Sarin continue to improvise.

Russ Lossing’s music reminds listeners of the importance of both a singular approach to composing and the importance of group interplay in order to carry the performances out. Metamorphism captures Lossing’s musical principles through spirited and ethereal readings from his incredible Quartet.

1. Three Treasures 08:54

2. Sojourn 08:13

3. Metamorphism (for Paul Motian) 12:24

4. Mai 10:51

5. Pileatus 02:30

6. Blind Horizon (for Andrew Hill) 09:21

7. June Jig 06:33

8. Canto 24 09:30

Russ Lossing - piano

Loren Stillman - alto saxophone

John Hébert - bass

Michael Sarin - drums

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Trio Exaltation - Marty Ehrlich (CLEAN FEED RECORDS 2018)

Marty Ehrlich has released his first trio recording in many years, entitled “Trio Exaltation.” For this new trio concept, Ehrlich has called on bassist John Hébert and drummer Nasheet Waits. All three were members together in the Andrew Hill Point of Departure Sextet, a group which brought Andrew Hill’s music strongly before the public in the last decade of Hill’s life.

This recording features eight new compositions by Marty Ehrlich, one of the most accomplished and celebrated composers and performers in the New Jazz. The one exception is the seminal composition of Andrew Hill entitled “Dusk”, which is also the title of the first Andrew Hill Sextet recording. Ehrlich writes that this is a work of “simple complexity which Andrew was a master of.”

This recording also includes a beautiful hymn in memory of Ornette Coleman, and a tribute to Pedro Costa of Clean Feed entitled “Senhor P.C.” Ehrlich uses his range of saxophone, clarinets, and flutes as the works on the recording moves from reflection to vigor and back. There is a great empathy between these three artists, as they explore “the exaltation of the moment.” Trio Exaltation is a new stage of Ehrlich’s ensembles, rich in urgency and sophistication.

1. Dusk 8:30

2. Yes Yes 5:11

3. Senhor P.C 5:07

4. Dance No. 5 6:15

5. Stone 4:15

6. June 11th, 2015-In Memorium: Ornette Coleman 7:19

7. Sometimes 6:08

8. The Arc of the Oar 4:26

9. Spirit of Jah No.2 3:31

10. Reading the River 5:17

Marty Ehrlich  alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, wooden flutes

John Hebert  bass

Nasheet Waits  drums

All compositions by Marty Ehrlich (Dark Sounds Music, BMI) except “Dusk” by Andrew Hill (Hendon Music, Inc. BMI)

Recorded at Namouche Studios Lisbon on April 28th by Joaquim Monte | Mixed and mastered by Brian Montgomery

Produced by Marty Ehrlich | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos

Fred Hersch Trio - Live in Europe (PALMETTO RECORDS 2018)

Celebrated jazz pianist/composer Fred Hersch releases 

luminous new trio recording Live in Europe

May 11, 2018 via Palmetto Records

"One of the major jazz ensembles of our times." — Will Friedwald, The Wall Street Journal 

“Hersch leads one of the most sensitive and nimble trios in jazz.” — Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune

“An imposing level of collective empathy." — Nate Chinen, The New York Times

Live in Europe (May 11, 2018, Palmetto Records) crowns what was a momentous year for pianist Fred Hersch. Capturing his trio–with longtime associates, bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson–in peak form, the new album signals a high level mark for an ensemble that has been garnering critical and popular praise for nearly a decade. Consisting of six Hersch originals and two significant compositions apiece from Thelonious Monk (“We See,” “Blue Monk”) and Wayne Shorter (“Miyako,” “Black Nile”), Live in Europe demonstrates how a working trio breathes as one. 

“The trio has a shared language; by now we each contribute an equal part in what goes on musically during a performance,” Hersch says. He has made a dozen trio albums over the last 30 years, and he states that “This is the best trio recording we’ve yet made, and pretty much as well as I can play in terms of energy and technical command.”

Serendipity played its role in the birth of the album. The penultimate engagement of the band’s three-week European tour in November of 2017 was held at Flagey Studio 4, in Brussels’ former National Institute for Radio Broadcasting. “After the show, I realized that this was one of the two or three best performances we had given. The band was in terrific playing form, the acoustics were perfect and the piano was outstanding,” Hersch recalls. “On returning to New York, I thought about the show and was then pleasantly surprised to find out that it had indeed been recorded. On hearing it, I was again struck by the level of creativity, content and energy.” 

Live in Europe finds the trio in near telepathic communion. While each band member is a virtuoso player, individual bravura is always subordinate to group interplay. Lyricism, open-eared interaction and a respect for the power of space are all invaluable components of the trio’s identity. In such performances as the frisky “Skipping,” the affecting ballad, “Bristol Fog” (dedicated to the late British pianist John Taylor), the joyous “Newklypso (dedicated to Hersch’s hero Sonny Rollins) and the bluesy tribute to New Orleans “The Big Easy,” Hersch, Hébert and McPherson give a master class in ensemble communication, uniting as one yet allowing each other to freely react with spontaneous invention. A masterful solo encore of “Blue Monk” spotlights the depth of Hersch’s undiminished improvisational skills and expressive powers.

2017 was as a particularly bountiful period for the always-productive Hersch. Highlights included the publication of Hersch’s acclaimed autobiography Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In and Out of Jazz (named one of the Five Best Memoirs of 2017 by both The Washington Post and The New York Times) and two Grammy Award nominations for his revealing solo album Open Book on Palmetto Records: 
Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo (Benny Golson’s “Whisper Not”). In addition, Hersch was awarded the 2017 Prix in Honorem Jazz for the entirety of his career from l'Académie Charles Cros in France. Hersch also opened the Jazz At Lincoln Center 2017 Season with his "Leaves of Grass," a full-evening setting of Walt Whitman's words for vocalists Kurt Elling, Kate McGarry and an instrumental octet.

Add to that such recent accolades as the 2016 Doris Duke Artist award and the 2016 Jazz Pianist of the Year award from the Jazz Journalists Association–not to mention the release of the feature documentary The Ballad of Fred Hersch, premiered at the prestigious Full Frame Film Festival in March 2016 to rave reviews and now streaming on Vimeo–and you have that most auspicious of times when an artist is being rightfully acknowledged for attaining new pinnacles of ability and inventiveness.

That Hersch is reaching such artistic heights after his well-publicized battle with HIV and a subsequent 2-month coma in 2008 is extraordinary.  “The release of this album is also a personal triumph in that it once again reminds me of how lucky I’ve been,” Hersch states. “It’s been nearly ten years since my coma and to find that I can play with the focus and energy that I have now is remarkable to me.”   

A select member of jazz’s piano pantheon, Fred Hersch is a pervasively influential creative force who has shaped the music’s course over more than three decades as an improviser, composer, educator, bandleader, collaborator and recording artist. Hersch has earned a total of twelve Grammy nominations since 1993 in the categories of Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Best Instrumental Composition and Best Improvised Jazz Solo. Nine of his nominations have come since his recovery from a coma in 2008.

Hersch has long defined jazz’s creative edge in a wide variety of settings, from his breathtaking solo recitals and exploratory duos to his extraordinary trios and innovative chamber settings. With some three dozen albums to his credit as a leader or co-leader, he consistently wins an international array of awards and lavish critical praise for his albums. Hersch has earned similar distinction with his writing, garnering a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship in Composition. He’s collaborated with an astonishing range of artists throughout the worlds of jazz (Joe Henderson, Charlie Haden, Art Farmer, Stan Getz, Bill Frisell); classical (Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Christopher O'Riley); and Broadway (Audra McDonald). Long admired for his sympathetic work with singers, Hersch has joined with such notable jazz vocalists as Nancy King, Janis Siegel, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Norma Winstone and Kurt Elling.

For two decades Hersch has been a passionate spokesman and fund-raiser for AIDS services and education agencies. He has produced and performed on four benefit recordings and in numerous concerts for charities including Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. To date, his efforts have raised more than $300,000. He has also been a keynote speaker and performer at international medical conferences in the U.S. and Europe.

A committed educator, Hersch has taught at New England Conservatory, The Juilliard School, The New School and The Manhattan School of Music. He is currently a Visiting Artist at Rutgers University. He holds honorary doctorate degrees from Grinnell College and Northern Kentucky University. Hersch's influence has been widely felt on a new generation of jazz pianists, from former students Brad Mehldau and Ethan Iverson to his colleague Jason Moran, who has said, "Fred at the piano is like LeBron James on the basketball court. He’s perfection.”

1. We See

2. Snape Maltings

3. Scuttlers

4. Skipping

5. Bristol Fog (For John Taylor)

6. Newklypso (For Sonny Rollins)

7. The Big Easy (For Tom Piazza)

8. Miyako

9. Black Nile

10. Bluemonk

Fred Hersch, piano

John Hébert, bass

Eric McPherson, drums

Benoit Delbecq 4 - Spots On Stripes (CLEAN FEED RECORDS 2018)

« A thoughtful chill runs through the music of Benoît Delbecq, a French pianist of investigative temperament and crystalline technique. There’s a ton of compressed energy in his playing, but he projects an unflappable calm ». These lines from the New York Times in 2010 by jazz critic Nate Chinen offer a pertinent description of Delbecq’s music. Delbecq is a multi-awarded  Parisian pianist and composer, a type-setter who persists in developing his ideas among which a very rhythmic approach that brings the soul of jazz to John Cage’s prepared piano. Delbecq may prepare just a few strings with wood sticks then sit at the piano become a percussion-and-piano ensemble. Delbecq is curious with sound, the rhythm of prose, and mutating loops of sound fabrics. His musical thrust continues to weave some outstanding and compelling tapestries for our delight.

This new quartet assembles four musicians from New York and Paris of the highest caliber in today’s contemporary jazz scene. There are winding melodies written for silversmith Mark Turner who kneads them like dow when Delbecq elegantly seems to observe them from a mirror, as well as lines for John Hébert whose rocking bass may decide to shift the whole group’s harmony, the whole cooking magically with Gerald Cleaver’s stellar, soulfoul and contagious drumming. The quartet plays a nomadic and rhythmic music as if they followed a map with contour lines only, letting musical gems appear and farm them on the moment on such fertile terrain.

Delbecq was born in 1966. Since the early nineties, his works have received acclaims from legendary musicians such as Mal Waldron, Steve Lacy, György Ligeti, Steve Coleman, Evan Parker, as well as from many critics and festivals around the world. He studied improvised music in Paris with free music pioneer Alan Silva. When aged 19, he joined Silva’s Celestrial Communication Orchestra, while jazz giant Mal Waldron mentored him to work on his own musical ideas. Delbecq has participated in a couple of jazz workshops at the Banff Centre and studied there with Dave Holland, Steve Coleman, Muhal Richard Abrams, among others greats. He also studied composition and music analysis with Solange Ancona, a former student of Olivier Messiaen. For composing he uses his own graphic notation he came cross with when transcribing the music of the Aka pigmees from the Central African rainforest.

He has previously worked with Mark Turner, John Hébert and Gerald Cleaver in two different projects (Delbecq Unit with Turner in 2003-5, and Hébert trio with Cleaver on drums since 2008). He’s been an activist of the Hask Collective Paris (1992-2004) and is presently a founding member of Bureau de Son Paris (2008) and the dStream label.

Delbecq’s works include collaborations with Mark Turner, Evan Parker, Oliver Lake, Michael Moore, Jean-Jacques Avenel, John Hébert, Steve Argüelles, Gerald Cleaver, Julian Argüelles, Marc Ducret, Guillaume Orti, Noël Akchoté, Mark Helias, Fred Hersch, Andy Milne, Ethan Iverson, Kris Davis, Jozef Dumoulin, Mike Ladd, Mary Halvorson, Taylor Ho Bynum, Tomas Fujiwara, François Houle, Gerry Hemingway, Toma Gouband, Samuel Blaser, Masa Kamaguchi, Emile Biayenda, Miles Perkin, Guillaume Orti, Robin Fincker, Sylvain Darrifourcq, Robin Verheyen, Clemens Van de Feen, Tomas Fujiwara, Jonas Burwinkel, Petter Eldh, Tim Berne, Tom Rainey, Lotte Anker, Hubert Dupont, Sarah Murcia, Olivier Py, François Thuillier, Stéphane Galland, Petter Bruun, Claudia Solal, Sarah Murcia, Kim Myhr, Michele Rabbia, Maria Pia de Vito, Oene Van Geel, Mandhira de Saram, Jonas Burgwinkel, Petter Eldh, Jorrit Dijsktra, John Hollenbeck, Dave King, Grdon Gordina, Kenton Loewen and many others.

1 Spots on Stripes 8:35

2 Broken World 4:13

3 Rosemary K 3:41

4 The Loop of Chicago 5:24

5 Disparition Du Si 3:20

6 Dawn Sounds 6:51

7 Old Vinyl 5:43

8 Springs 5:28

9 Dripping Stones 4:35

10 De Stael 5:30

Mark Turner  tenor saxophone

Benoît Delbecq  piano

John Hébert  double bass

Gerald Cleaver  drums

All compositions by Benoît Delbecq (Sacem)

Recorded June 15th, 2017 at Trading8s Studio, Paramus NJ by Christopher Sulit | Mixed by Benoît Delbecq at PlushSpace Paris | Mastered by Klaus Sheuermann at 4ohm Berlin

Produced by Benoît Delbecq | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos

Michael Attias Quartet - Nerve Dance (CLEAN FEED RECORDS 2017)

Nerve Dance – saxophonist/composer/bandleader/conceptualist Michaël Attias’ sixth album (available on Clean Feed Records, March 10, 2017), which deals with the aesthetics of spontaneity, the theory of elasticity and the concept of equality in music, is an expansive, spirited debut from Michaël Attias’ new Quartet, featuring Aruán Ortiz (piano), John Hébert (bass) and Nasheet Waits (drums). OnNerve Dance, we are regaled with hearing four hearts, minds and bodies hooking up at an extremely high level on nine Attias compositions, and two from Hébert. Each piece exercises a different set of muscles and faculties for the band, and every member of the Quartet carries within them the historical knowledge and a fluency in the multitude of dialects of this music; consequently we hear them free within the compositions, deep into the zone of this collective creation, transcending their respective instruments and completely surrendering to the music.

Attias has been influenced by literature, film, painting, extensive travel, life in general, and of course, a wide spectrum of music, ranging from Moroccan Gnawa rhythms to Renaissance Polyphony, Ligeti, Debussy and the 2nd Viennese School; the AACM, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor and Steve Lacy, but also Andrew Hill, Paul Motian,  Konitz & Marsh, plus the first and lasting loves, Ellington, Coltrane, Monk, Miles and Bird. Attias’ music, while dedicated to “creation” rather than “re-creation”, remains firmly rooted in the avant-garde, conceptualized as the true tradition of this music from its earliest recordings onward. Attias asserts that the revolutionary, adventurous spirit of the major figures of jazz, including his aforementioned influences, made bold strokes of genius that only seem inevitable in retrospect, and have paved the way for the audacious improvisers of today who remain singular and fearless in the face of mass conformity.

There exists an instinctual, visceral need in Attias and his cohorts to play music that is honest, that rejects inertness and fully embraces the meaning of creativity and evolution. This music is found on Nerve Dance.

Attias, a quietly fierce, improvising force on the international scene, has worked with Anthony Braxton and Paul Motian, and is a frequent collaborator/sideman for Kris Davis, Ralph Alessi, Tony Malaby, Oliver Lake, Anthony Coleman (and many others).

He also leads three bands, his new Quartet, Renku (featuring John Hébert and Satoshi Takeishi), and Spun Tree (featuring Ralph Alessi, Matt Mitchell, Sean Conly and Tom Rainey). He has also composed for theatre, film, big band, and orchestra. So why this new Quartet, and why Ortiz, Hébert andWaits? “There was a particular chemistry I was looking for and a kinship of approach that I can only describe as a fiery mathematics whose combustion is in the blowing itself, a group identity so strong that it becomes the overriding composition.

This band is big fun to play with. Everyone has in common a deep lyricism and a very personal way of bringing design to the turbulence and turbulence to the design. We all share a fearless commitment to every moment of the music, to making it breathe and dance – balancing the yins and yangs, fire and receptivity, mystery and clarity… Hébert, Nasheet and I have played together in countless situations over the last fifteen years, and, of course, those two for years played together with Andrew Hill whose music is a big inspiration to us all.

They bring a deeply singing quality and dance to everything they do. Aruán is the new agent in this chemistry; he has all the qualities I’ve mentioned and a kind of visionary approach to sound and time, order and chaos that I really appreciate.

Music demands of us, as players and listeners, that we put our emotions, minds, bodies, and nervous systems on the line and give it some attention, but the reward is that we can all share in the dance.

Dark Net

Nerve & Limbo

Scribble Job Yin Yang

Boca De Luna

Moonmmouth

La Part Maudite

Le Pese-Nerfs

Rodger Lodge

Dream In A Mirror

Ombilique

Nasheet

Michaël Attias: alto saxophone

Aruan Ortiz: piano

John Hébert: bass

Nasheet Waits: drums

Mary Halvorson Octet - Away With You (FIREHOUSE 12 RECORDS 2016)

It would be sufficient for Mary Halvorson to just continue being an avant-jazz guitarist with broad influences and a distinctive style. She would stay busy and garner praise. But here, she steps up as a leader once again, this time with her biggest outfit yet.

The lineup is identical to that of 2013’s Illusionary Sea, with the addition of Susan Alcorn on pedal steel guitar. The other contributors are Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet, Jon Irabagon on alto saxophone, Ingrid Laubrock on tenor saxophone, Jacob Garchik on trombone, John Hébert on bass, and Ches Smith on drums. Under Halvorson’s deft guidance, the octet navigates eight labyrinthine compositions.

With an ensemble of such size, it would be hard to categorize this as a guitarist’s solo album. Halvorson’s voice herein is just one among many, though it makes clear statements. But not unlike Illusionary Sea, as well as her other works for larger outfits, Away With You is a composers showcase. The horns roll off of one another in counterpoint over ominous 6-string picking and chording, with Alcorn providing atmospherics, and Hébert and Smith contributing a busy low end. Themes morph and adjust until all players join in free-form blowouts, then the themes reprise once again.

In some ways, Halvorson’s compositional style is as disjointed and prickly as her playing. Channeling her inner Braxton, she makes sharp left turns when the listener is expecting straight lines, while leading the octet through dense non-linearities. On the other hand, her use of space is masterfully delicate, building tension for the inevitable chaotic release.

As noted above, guitar sometimes takes a primary role. However, this not to the exclusion of the other instruments. Duets between Alcorn and Halvorson are particular compelling, though taking up only bits and pieces of the album. Hébert also provides a long, powerful solo break. But Away With You is at its best when all eight players are working through complex charts, and soloing around the edges. The result is nothing short of exhilarating.

1. Spirit Splitter (no. 54) 06:18

2. Away With You (no. 55) 08:04

3. The Absolute Almost (no. 52) 09:59

4. Sword Barrel (no. 58) 04:41

5. Old King Misfit (no. 57) 07:34

6. Fog Bank (no. 56) 05:31

7. Safety Orange (no. 59) 05:14

8. Inky Ribbons (no. 53) 08:35

Released October 28, 2016 

Mary Halvorson :: guitar 

Susan Alcorn :: pedal steel guitar 

Jonathan Finlayson :: trumpet 

Jon Irabagon :: alto saxophone 

Ingrid Laubrock :: tenor saxophone 

Jacob Garchik :: trombone 

John Hébert :: bass 

Ches Smith :: drums

Jonathan Finlayson & Sicilian Defense - Moving Still (PI RECORDINGS 2016)

Moving Still is the eagerly-awaited follow-up to trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson’s Moment and the Message (Pi 2013), which was voted the top Album by a Debut Artist in the 2013 NPR Jazz Critics Poll and proclaimed “intricate and alluring, melodic but daring, riveting and rare” by Popmatters. Well regarded among fellow musicians for his ability to negotiate complex musical material and his decidedly personal sound and improvisational style, Finlayson was named the Number One Rising Star Trumpeter in the 2014 Downbeat Critics Poll. He has been a member of alto saxophonist Steve Coleman’s Five Elements for over 15 years, while also playing regularly with the likes of such cutting-edge artists as Steve Lehman, Mary Halvorson, Muhal Richard Abrams and Henry Threadgill.

Moving Still is filled with enthralling twists and turns, a hallmark of Finlayson’s compositional style. As usual, there is far more to his work than might readily appear. Even though the pieces move forward with a clear thrust, instrumental voices rarely move in unison and counterpoint almost always holds sway. This is apparent on “Flank and Center,” where the melody utilizes hockets - a series of three and two notes played in turn by three voices, a pointillistic effect that is carried throughout the piece. “Space And” is based on a traditional bell pattern of the Dagomba of present-day Northern Ghana while “Folk Song” is inspired by an Afro Cuban melody from the song cycle devoted to Oshun, a deity that reflects one of the manifestations of God in the Ifá and Yoruba religions. “Cap vs Nim” is based on a celebrated chess match between the grandmasters José Raúl Capablanca and Aron Nimzowitsch wherein Finlayson assigned harmonic values to positions on the board with the melody determined by the origin and destination of each move. Guitarist Mile Okazaki states of the music: “It demands restraint and balance. It breathes and moves along unencumbered. You join in for the trip, but travel light and watch your step, because Finlayson will surely take a turn that you don’t expect.”

Finlayson’s band, Sicilian Defense, is named after the popular chess opening counter move, and most of the composition titles on Moving Still are also allusions to some aspect of the game of chess, which he plays with great zeal. This latest iteration of the band includes guitarist Miles Okazaki, who is also a member of Steve Coleman’s Five Elements and with whom Finlayson has played with consistently for ten years. Trickster, his next release, will be out on Pi in 2017. Pianist Matt Mitchell (Tim Berne, Dave Douglas, Rudresh Mahanthappa, John Hollenbeck) has also released two of his albums on Pi. Finlayson has played alongside bassist John Hebert (Andrew Hill, Fred Hersch) for years, most recently in the bands of guitarist Mary Halvorson. And the young drummer Craig Weinrib, best known for tackling the challenges of Henry Threadgill’s music as a member of his Ensemble Double up, a band that released the acclaimed Old Locks and Irregular Verbs earlier this year.

Finlayson has been a professional musician for a decade and a half despite being only 34 years of age. It’s not uncommon for musicians years younger with far less experience to have multiple albums as leaders under their belt already yet Moving Still is just the second release under his own name. According to Okazaki: “You can’t rush Finlayson. He’s not concerned with expectations. He has confidence that his preparation will allow things to fall into place when the time is right. It has to do with timing and nuance, and allowing the story to reveal itself to those who are leaning in and paying attention.” Or as Steve Coleman puts it: “Jonathan was aware of the entire spectrum of this music from a young age and he’s always taken a panoramic view of what has come before. But for him it’s not about imitating the great players. He has the patience to find his own way and it’s important to him for his music to reflect his own personality and philosophy, to create his own style and sound. He has made a conscious choice to be on the cutting edge so that he continues to make an individual contribution to the continuum of this music.” The result is a daring work with a firm sense of purpose.

1. All of the Pieces 11:15

2. Flank and Center 04:34

3. Space And 08:33

4. Cap vs. Nim 08:58

5. Between Moves 08:08

6. Folk Song 10:47

Jonathan Finlayson - trumpet

Miles Okazaki - guitar

Matt Mitchell - piano

John Hébert – bass

Craig Weinrib - drums

The Fred Hersch Trio - Sunday Night at the Vanguard (2016) PALMETTO RECORDS

THE VILLAGE VANGUARD 1976

Jazz is too often portrayed as an art form defined by blazing young artists. It's true that many jazz masters reach a mid-career plateau marked by small variations on a mature style. But there's also a vanguard of players and composers who continue to refine and expand the art form in middle age and beyond, like Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Henry Threadgill, and piano maestro Fred Hersch, who is marking his 60th year with an astonishing creative surge. Slated for release by his longtime label Palmetto on August 12, 2016, Hersch's new recording Sunday Night at the Vanguard stands as the most profound and enthralling trio statement yet by an improviser whose bands have embodied the enduring relevance of the piano-bass-and-drums format for three decades.

With Sunday, Hersch's trio gracefully leapfrogs past its already daunting accomplishments. Featuring the exquisitely interactive bassist John Hébert and extraordinarily sensitive drummer Eric McPherson, the ensemble has recorded a series of critically hailed albums over the past seven years, including 2012's Fred Hersch Trio - Alive at the Vanguard, a double album that earned France's top jazz award, the Grand Prix du Disque, and 2014's lavishly praised Floating, a double Grammy®-nominee (both on Palmetto).

Recorded at the storied venue that's become Hersch's second home, Sunday Night at the Vanguard unfolds with all the dramatic intensity and narrative drive that make his performances a revelatory experience. Ebulliently playful and ravishingly lyrical, rhythmically elastic and harmonically exploratory, the trio plays with an extraordinary level of trust, assurance, high-wire poise and musicality throughout the set. "The thing that's beautiful about Eric is his touch," Hersch says. "He's the straight man and John is the loose guy, though sometimes they reverse it."

Hersch had only played "A Cockeyed Optimist" with the trio a few times when he called the rarely heard Rodgers and Hammerstein gem as the evening's opening tune. From the first notes of the gentle intro he sensed the group was in a special zone, and aside from two pieces drawn from the night's second set the album unfolds exactly as the trio delivered it. "I'm always looking for tunes on the obscure side," Hersch says. "The trio had played it a couple of times, but never to open a set, and as soon as we started I knew it was going to be a good night. This is by far my best trio album and it represents about as well as we can play."

There are familiar Hersch touchstones along the way, with several memorable new pieces. The latest in his long line of character studies, "Serpentine" was inspired by a close associate of Ornette Coleman's, and the tune captures her mysterious and alluring air. "The Optimum Thing" is his clever contrafact based on the chord changes to Irving Berlin's "The Best Thing for You," and it exemplifies the trio's elastic sense of time, as the song opens at a brisk, tumbling tempo and accelerates into a sweat-inducing gallop (other nights it's a study in deceleration).

Of the album's numerous startlingly beautiful passages, the trio's aching rendition of Lennon and McCartney "For No One," stands out. He recorded the song with Janis Siegel on the 1994 duo project Slow Hot Wind and uses essentially the same arrangement here. But now it's Hersch's piano delivering the melody at a dolorous tempo, drawing out the tune's quiet desperation. While the Beatles recording is more snappy than despondent, "it's really a song about a break up, and maybe the saddest lyric they ever wrote," Hersch says. "I slowed it down with Janis and added some beats on 'linger on.' When we play it people really react to it."

Hersch recorded Kenny Wheeler's jubilant "Everybody's Song But My Own" as the title track of a 2013 Japanese trio album focused on standards. He played the terpsichorean tune with Wheeler many times, and now it serves as a gripping tribute to the brilliant trumpeter/composer, who died last year. He follows with a recent original, "Blackwing Palomino," which not coincidentally is the name of the storied writing implement with which Hersch notated the bluesy piece. A self-confessed pencil geek, he notes that the brand "was the favorite of Tennessee Williams. The company just started making them again, and I buy them by the dozens. I was rehearsing with Ravi Coltrane recently and we started talking pencils and he said I should write a tune with Blackwing in the title. The slogan on the pencil is 'Half the pressure. Twice the result.'"

Cryptic, open-hearted and filigreed, Hersch's "Calligram (for Benoit Delbecq)" is dedicated to the brilliant French pianist who often renders compositions with graphic scores that he calls calligrams. They did a double-trio project with electronics several years ago ("I think he's a genius," Hersch says), and he wrote this pleasingly unresolved tune with Delbecq in mind. If "Calligram" evokes a Rube Goldberg playground, Jimmy Rowles' sylvan ballad "The Peacocks," is a shimmering pastel landscape. Recorded several times previously by Hersch (who got the original sheet music from Rowles himself), this extended version is transcendent.

He closes the set with a rollicking rendition of "We See," a Monk tune he's never recorded before. And then returns for a solo encore, "Valentine," a tune that earned a Grammy nomination for best instrumental composition when it was released on 2002's Live at Bimhaus. "I always end with Monk," Hersch says, "and always play 'Valentine' as an encore, which leaves the audience feeling groovy and happy."

No artist in the past three decades has used the Vanguard more effectively than Hersch. He made his debut at the jazz Mecca in the late 1970s with a 12-piece band co-led by bass legend Sam Jones and rising trumpeter Tom Harrell, the first of dozens of sideman stints at the club. He performed there regularly with Joe Henderson throughout the 1980s, often with Ron Carter and Al Foster ("That was graduate school," Hersch says). He made his Vanguard debut as a leader in 1996 with his celebrated trio featuring Drew Gress and Tom Rainey. "I think I could have played there before 1996 had I been willing to hire an all-star rhythm section, but I wanted to wait until I could do it on my own terms," Hersch says. "Now they say do what you want to do, and it doesn't have to be a concept or tribute. I'm so honored and humbled that my photo is on the wall, next to Coltrane, Bill Evans, and Mingus."

And the Vanguard is hardly Hersch's only showcase. He returns to the Jazz Standard in May for his 10th annual Duo Invitation Series with trumpeter Avishai Cohen, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Julian Lage, Kate McGarry, Yosvany Terry, and Anat Cohen (with whom he's touring the West Coast in June).

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Hersch studied music theory and composition in elementary school and sang in high school theater productions. It wasn't until he started attending Iowa's Grinnell College that he turned on to jazz. (Grinnell is awarding him an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters this year). But the bug really bit him when he went home for the holidays and happened into a Cincinnati jazz club. He ended up dropping out of school and earned his stripes with veteran musicians on local bandstands. After honing his chops for 18 months he enrolled at New England Conservatory to work with jazz piano legend Jaki Byard, and made the move to New York City in 1977 after earning a BM with Honors (he started teaching at NEC in 1980 and retired last year after 35 years on faculty).

Hersch quickly gained recognition as a superlative band-mate, performing and recording with masters such as Stan Getz, Joe Henderson, Billy Harper, Lee Konitz, Art Farmer, Gary Burton, Toots Thielemans, and many others. Since releasing his first album under his own name he's recorded in an array of settings, including a series of captivating solo recitals, duos with vocalists Janis Siegel and Norma Winstone, and ambitious extended compositional projects including a widely-praised setting of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." As an educator, he has shepherded some of the finest young pianists in jazz through his teaching at NEC, Juilliard, Rutgers and the New School. A leading force in galvanizing the jazz community in the fights against HIV/AIDS, he produced 1994's all-star benefit project Last Night When We Were Young: The Ballad Album.

He's gained the most widespread visibility as the leader of a series of remarkable trios. From his first session with Marc Johnson and Joey Baron, he's pushed at the limits of lyricism and temporal fluidity with similarly searching improvisers. He has consistently drawn deeply from the music's most refined players while forging his own approach. He considers his current trio, with John Hébert and Eric McPherson, as his best to date. "I always say that as a player there are three main threads that come to prominence at different times," Hersch says. "There's the trio, which is a constant. I've been doing duo encounters steadily going way back to Jane Ira Bloom in the early 1980s. But I think solo feels equal to the trio in terms of being the hub of my musical wheel. My solo playing feeds my trio and vice versa."

A feature length film, The Ballad of Fred Hersch, recently premiered to rapturous reviews at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and Hersch is busy at work on a memoir (working title: Good Things Happen Slowly) for Crown/Random House due in stores Spring 2017.

Fred Hersch Website

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Blackwing Palomino