sign in sign up
<<
Home , Fred Hersch

NEWS RELEASE Contact: Ann Braithwaite (781) 259-9600 [email protected]

Internationally acclaimed pianist Fred Hersch Returns to his native Cincinnati for solo concert

Sunday, April 3 at Xavier University

"A master who plays it his way... Mr. Hersch has honed a solo piano concept second to none in .” — The New York Times

“5-stars. When it comes to the art of solo piano in jazz, there are currently two classes of performers: Fred Hersch and everybody else.” – Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz

"Solo Hersch is a complete, self-sufficient, uniquely pure art form." — JazzTimes

"Fred at the piano is like LeBron James on the basketball court. He’s perfection.” –

Internationally acclaimed pianist and composer Fred Hersch, a Cincinnati native, returns to his hometown on Sunday, April 3 for a solo recital at Xavier University’s Gallagher Theater as part of its swing/jazz series. The concert takes place at 3 p.m. Tickets are $3 - $28. For more information, call 513-745-3161 or email [email protected]

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Hersch studied music theory and composition while in elementary school. He attended Walnut Hills School and sang in the Cincinnati All-City Boys Choir. An improviser of unsurpassed lyricism and technique, Hersch is at his most intimate and revealing in a solo setting. His recent release Fred Hersch Solo earned wide critical acclaim. As Frank Akyer wrote in DownBeat: “The set of seven tracks soars sonically, spiritually and artistically. Hersch never rushes to make his points. The keystrokes flow like rivulets into a mighty river—each note and chord clear, full of joy, sorrow and truth.”

Praised in a New York Times Sunday Magazine feature as “singular among the trailblazers of their art, a largely unsung innovator of this borderless, individualistic jazz—a jazz for the 21st century,” Hersch balances his internationally recognized instrumental and composing skills with significant achievements as a bandleader, collaborator and theatrical conceptualist.

Hersch – who as leader or co-leader has over three dozen albums to his name – has featured himself as either a solo performer or at the helm of varied small ensembles, which in addition to his celebrated trio, include a quintet, and his unconventional Pocket Orchestra. Of Floating (Palmetto), Hersch’s bestselling CD with bassist John Hebert and drummer Eric McPherson, Nate Chinen of The New York Times wrote, “Mr. Hersch has been making acclaimed trio releases since his debut album as a leader, 30 years ago. He hasn’t made one better than this...an extravagantly beautiful new album."

Hersch has also collaborated with an astonishing range of instrumentalists and vocalists throughout worlds of jazz (, , , and ); classical (Renée Fleming, , 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, and .

In 2006 Hersch became the first artist in the 75-year history of New York's legendary Village Vanguard to play a weeklong engagement as a solo pianist. His 2011 release, Alone at the Vanguard received Grammy Award nominations for Best Jazz Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo. In 2014, Hersch garnered his sixth Grammy nomination for his solo on "Duet" from Free Flying, a duo album with guitarist that received a rare 5-star rating from DownBeat.

In 2003 Hersch created Leaves of Grass (Palmetto Records), a large-scale setting of 's poetry for voices (Kurt Elling and Kate McGarry) and an instrumental octet; the work was presented to a sold-out Zankel Hall at in 2005. His acclaimed 2010 theatrical project, My Coma Dreams (based on imaginings Hersch had during a two-month coma), is a full-evening work for an actor/singer, 11 instrumentalists and animation/multimedia; it will be released on DVD on December 1st, 2014. A disc of his through-composed works, Fred Hersch: Concert Music 2001-2006, has been released by Naxos Records. He was the recipient of a 2003 Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in Music Composition among his many awards and honors.

For two decades Hersch has been a passionate spokesman and fund-raiser for AIDS services and education agencies. He has produced and performed on benefit recordings and in numerous concerts for charities, including Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. He has also been a keynote speaker and performer at international medical conferences in the U.S. and Europe. He is currently busy at work on a memoir (working title: Good Things Happen Slowly) for Crown/Random House due in stores Spring 2017.

Hersch's influence has been widely felt on a new generation of jazz pianists, from former students and to his colleague Jason Moran, who has said, "Fred at the piano is like LeBron James on the basketball court. He’s perfection.”

www.fredhersch.com

# # #