INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED JAZZ PIANIST/COMPOSER FRED HERSCH NOMINATED FOR TWO 2018 GRAMMY AWARDS FOR RECENT PALMETTO CD
OPEN BOOK
“Best Jazz Instrumental Album” and “Best Improvised Jazz Solo”
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 2-month coma in 2008.
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. A twelve-time Grammy Award nominee, he continues to earn jazz’s most prestigious awards, including recent distinctions as a 2016 Doris Duke Artist, 2016 Jazz Pianist of the Year from the Jazz Journalists Association and the 2017 Prix in Honorem Jazz for the entirety of his career from l'Académie Charles Cros in France.
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.
The feature documentary The Ballad of Fred Hersch premiered at the prestigious Full Frame Film Festival in March 2016 to a sold-out house and rave reviews and is now streaming on Vimeo. His autobiography Good Things Happen Slowly (Crown Books/Random House), was named one of the Five Best Memoirs of 2017 by The Washington Post.
Open Book has earned wide critical acclaim
“But Mr. Hersch’s music of the last half-dozen years is at the pinnacle of the jazz idiom. In my opinion, jazz piano doesn’t get any better than this.” – Ted Gioia, The Wall Street Journal
“After Keith Jarrett, Fred Hersch is our leading exponent of solo jazz piano. The secret to Hersch’s work is that he does not fundamentally alter his engagement with the instrument. Understanding that the piano’s essence is to sing, he remains quintessentially, lyrically pianistic. Hersch’s touch with melody is extraordinary.” – Thomas Conrad, Stereophile
★★★★★ “This is a recording that makes it seem as though Fred Hersch is the finest jazz pianist in the world. That’s an impossible assertion, of course. There are a dozen, maybe more pianists who have achieved this level of artistry. But for now, with ‘Open Book’, he can wear that title.” – Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
"At 61, he stands among jazz's first rank of pianists and composers, possessing rare and wide-ranging gifts yet promoting no particular style. He plays it his way, always shaping a personal sound.” – Larry Blumenfeld, Village Voice
“Pianist Fred Hersch personalizes everything he plays, investing deep emotion into his inventive interpretations of standards, pop tunes or whatever he turns his hand to, displaying a jaunty virtuosity that simultaneously delights and inspires awe.” – Bob Weinberg, Jazziz
"...a tour de force of solo piano playing." – Pierre Giroux, Audiophile Audition
“Seemingly contrapuntal and contrary exchanges of left and right hand, tenderly emerging climaxes and the feeling that he is always whispering in your ear are a few of the major attractions of this captivating set…a pianist at the height of his powers.” – Selwyn Harris, Jazzwise (UK)
“’Open Book’ shows an artist at the height of his creative power without a sign of slacking off. It’s one of those albums that sounds good any time of day, early in the morning with the birds singing outside your window or late at night as you relax after a long day. No matter when you listen, this is quite a good ‘book.’” – Richard Kamins, Steptempest
“Most everything in Fred Hersch’s oeuvre has always miraculously existed as slow read and page-turner all at once. The many phrases, songs and albums from the mind of this highly expressive pianist-composer have been something to really take time with, to be savored and appreciated for their beauty and depth of creative thought. “Open Book’ serves as a fine companion piece to go with Hersch’s memoir, but it’s a work that also stands alone, apart and aloft without issue. This is another five-star find from one of jazz’s greatest treasures.” – Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
“The centerpiece of the album is an almost 20-minute stream-of-consciousness improvisation, ‘Through The Forest,’ made completely compelling by Fred’s intelligent weaving of multiple musical strands and techniques into a narrative that holds the piece together into a cohesive whole. It is comparable to Keith Jarrett’s famous solo piano concerts, but Fred seems more focused than even Keith was, as dramatic passages alternated with knuckled clusters in a constantly unfolding panorama.” – George Kanzler, Hot House
“It would be interesting to know how many truly great jazz pianists are alive at any given time. But I’ll say this: you could tighten the criteria until you have excluded all but ten, and Fred Hersch would still be among them. In fact, I’d suggest that he’s possibly one of the top five. His latest album is a solo excursion, perhaps the most deeply personal and introspective of any he has made yet. All of it is exquisite.” – Rick Anderson, CD Hotlist
"This is the work of a real artist examining his art and laying himself bare in the musical process. Solo piano music that forces you to lean in, put this up there with genre classics." – Chris Spector, Midwest Record
“There’s no such thing as a casual listen to a Fred Hersch recording. Diving into the American pianist/composer’s work is no cold shower, though, but a trip into an enchanting world of teeming melodies, rich colours and criss-crossing stories. Like Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau, Hersch is a brilliant solo artist, and Open Book is a mix of originals and covers built around Through the Forest, a remarkable total-improv performance from a 2016 concert in Seoul. It is a typical Hersch set: understated, cliche-free, and sublime in its craft and musicality.” – John Fordham, The Guardian (UK)
"Profoundly expressive and technically astounding..." – Mel Minter, Musically Speaking
★★★★★ “Hersch is the musician’s musician, a deep and thoughtful artist who strikes that elusive balance between soul and skill every time he touches the keyboard. This magnificent solo recording is aptly named, a revelatory experience, almost indecent in its emotional truth, and proof - if it were needed - that music, particularly in the hands of a poet like Hersch, can express what words cannot even approach.” – Cormac Larkin, The Irish Times
★★★★★ “An album so free in emotions, from lyrical to strong and dissonant, that you as a listener are emotionally completely blown away. With his fabulous technique as a base, Hersch, on Open Book, knows how to create a musical world that's so intense and emotional that he'll let you forget the messy world outside.” – Dick Hovenga, Written In Music (Belgium)
"’Through the Forest’ is an almost 20 minute spontaneous improvisation, played at a point where he was unusually exhausted, and allowed himself to totally give in to the moment, and let the ideas flow as they came. It is the centerpiece of an exceptional album, one that definitively demonstrates the singular genius possessed by Fred Hersch.” – Joe Lang, Jersey Jazz
“Open Book gives Hersch fans both the familiar pleasures they’ve come to expect and a novel and daring performance that shows just how unbounded the great pianist’s talents can be.” – Peter Hum, The Ottawa Citizen
“The closing track is Billy Joel’s tender ballad, ‘And So It Goes’, and while I’ve heard many renditions of this song, I don’t recall one that touched me as much as this one. The passion Hersch injects into this powerful song shows why he is one of jazz’s most treasured performers.” – Thomas Cunniffe, Jazz History Online
“Fred Hersch is a modern piano master. The closer, a stately, hymnal take on Billy Joel’s And So It Goes that hews close to the theme, is one of the most gorgeous pieces of piano playing you’re ever likely to hear.” – John Turney, London Jazz News
“In the sometimes seemingly overcrowded world of the contemporary jazz pianist, it must be difficult to make a lasting impression. I often think of Hersch as something of an unsung piano hero. If you are a fan of contemporary jazz piano of the highest order you will need this in your collection.” – Alan Musson, UK VIbe
“Built around a long, wholly-improvised concert perfromance, this solo piano recital from Fred Hersch is stunning evidence that he is one of the few great solo jazz pianists alive.” – Will Layman, Pop Matters
