Open Book

Album review

Less noisy than Keith Jarrett and less famous than Brad Mehldau (who was his pupil, after all), Fred Hersch is a "jazz" pianist who is all the same very precious: a musician whose every album holds gems of improvisation, and moments of grace. His works have become all the more intense of the the last few years, as they have found themselves shoved into the spotlight of the life of a committed artist. In 2008, this life was almost brought to a premature end. Having contracted AIDS, Hersch spent two months in a coma from which he emerged miraculously. There followed long weeks in which he re-learned the piano, and then, years later, he wrote a piece, My Coma Dreams, on the porous border between dream and reality. Several other albums followed. Playing solo, in a trio, in a duet... this album, brought out in September 2017, is a totally solo work. This is his eleventh solo work, that mixes his own music with works by others (Whisper Not by Benny Golson, Eronel by Monk, Zingaro by Antonip Carlos Jobim and even, more surprising, And So It Goes by Billy Joel!). Those who know Fred Hersch are hardly surprised by the intelligence of his jazz. Nor by his faculty for turning so many phrases of such beauty. Those who don't can take a look in this Open Book, and get their herschian education started as soon as possible...  © MZ/Qobuz