Fred Hersch Trio at The Village Vanguard, New York City, USA.

Dates: Tuesday, October 21, 2025 - Sunday, October 26, 2025

Featuring: Fred Hersch

More details

We have received the following press release regarding this residency;

Pianist Fred Hersch Celebrates His 70th Birthday With a Week-Long Run at The Village Vanguard October 21-26
Shows at 8:00 and 10:00 PM
Featuring Bassist Drew Gress and Drummer Marcus Gilmore
Tickets Available Online
https://vv.squadup.com/artists/fred-hersch

Fred Hersch’s The Surrounding Green, his Third Recording for ECM, is an Essential Entry into the Piano Trio Canon
Featuring Bassist Drew Gress and Drummer Joey Baron
Hersch Tackles a Handful of 20th Century Compositions, Spanning from Standards to Less Frequented Jazz Tunes, as Well as Three Originals
Available Now via ECM
https://ecm.lnk.to/SurroundingGreen

“This offering by Hersch, Gress and Baron is engaging, ardent and otherwise splendid; it’s conceivable Manfred Eicher has found the great piano trio to anchor his catalogue for the foreseeable future.”
— DownBeat (★★★★1/2)

“Everything is elegant here; the trio has achieved mastery of their collective approach, not in raging romps or virtuosic displays, but in the clarity of their communication and their use of space.” — All About Jazz

“Soaked in jazz tradition, but equally driven to pursue his own distinctive vision, Hersch possesses one of the most divine keyboard techniques of anyone currently working. Clearly classically trained, the Cincinnati native is more likely to imply his skill than put it on display, putting the tunes in charge on his latest album The Surrounding Green.” — The Big Takeover

Masterful trio interplay reliant on deeply honed three-way communication and a refined sense of understatement make Fred Hersch’s The Surrounding Green, his third recording for ECM, an essential entry into the piano trio canon. Hersch tackles a handful of 20th century compositions – spanning from standards to less frequented jazz tunes – as well as three originals, with Drew Gress on bass and Joey Baron on drums.

Gress and Baron are longstanding companions of Hersch’s who have played with him on and off since the late ‘80s and early ‘90s respectively – in various combinations Fred was joined by the one or the other on over a dozen recordings. This however marks their first studio recording as a trio, and their exceptional collective approach, shaped by decades of experience, can be heard (and felt) in every song.

“Joey is such a genius with dynamics that it was no problem at all for us to hear each other in the Auditorio,” notes Hersch. “And the way that Drew plays, for example on ‘Plainsong’ and ‘The Surrounding Green’, there’s so much trust in how we get through the harmony, where we pause and where we move on. I feel that on this record you really hear the history! I hope that people can feel the maturity of the interaction, the sonic world and the sensitivity at play.”

As to his approach when writing a new song, Hersch insists that he usually composes within a limit timeframe – 45 minutes, the kitchen timer keeps track. His favourite tune writers, Hersch says, “Monk, Wayne shorter, Duke or Kenny Wheeler – many of their songs don’t look like much on a page, but they have a kind of world to them. Everything Monk wrote fits on 86 pages – everything! I’m a believer in that a good tune needs no more than two essential elements – it has to be memorable, as in it has to stick. And it should be fun to play, leaving room for the player to bring in whatever they bring.”

“This record to me is very concentrated, which always seems to be the case when I work with Manfred,” says Hersch. “It marks my third record with him, all three recorded in Lugano’s Auditorio Stelio Molo – and I can definitely say it’s the perfect condition for kind of playing live, but in a controlled environment.”

Recorded in May 2024, The Surrounding Green was produced by Manfred Eicher.

Fred Hersch · The Surrounding Green
ECM · Release Date: June 27, 2025
For more information on ECM, please visit:
https://ecmrecords.com/

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/raGPWUXEky8

Fred Hersch featured on Jazz Night in America
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/17/nx-s1-5464879/jazz-night-fred-hersch

Village Vanguard 178 7th Avenue South, New York, NY 10014, United States
(212) 255-4037 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
http://www.villagevanguard.com