Fred Hersch, solo piano, The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, 07/10/2012.

It’s a long way from the Village Vanguard to Much Wenlock but local music fans were treated to the sight and sound of award winning pianist Fred Hersch bringing the spirit of the famous New York City jazz club to rural Shropshire as part of Hersch’s ongoing solo piano tour of the UK.

Tonight’s programme drew on both of Hersch’s most recent recordings for Palmetto Records, the masterful solo piano set “Alone At The Vanguard” (2011) and the recently released “Alive At The Vanguard”, a double album featuring Hersch’s trio with double bassist John Hebert and drummer Eric McPherson. As the titles suggest both albums were recorded live at the Village Vanguard, indeed Hersch was the first artist to play an entire week’s residency of solo piano at the club. It’s no wonder that this iconic venue seems to have become his spiritual home.

The Edge may not be as famous as the Vanguard but it has developed an enviable reputation under the stewardship of Artistic Director Alison Vermee with a loyal fan-base that regularly returns to enjoy top quality jazz of a standard that is rarely heard outside London. Like so many other performers before him Hersch expressed his delight at playing at The Edge, praising the attentiveness of the audience, the quality of the piano and the acoustics plus the warmth of the welcome he had received from the Arts Centre staff. For the audience it was a rare treat to see a musician of Hersch’s stature performing at such a location.

Bespectacled and academic in appearance Hersch combines the technique and lightness of touch of a classical master with the adventurousness and rigour of a born improviser. Born in Cincinnati he came to jazz late after first studying music theory and composition and honed his talent on his home city’s jazz scene before moving to New York in 1977. He has since played with many of the jazz greats across a wide array of jazz styles from the straight ahead to the avant garde.

Hersch combines his classical background with a thorough knowledge of the jazz tradition. He began tonight’s uninterrupted performance with Billy Strayhorn’s “UMMG” (or “Upper Manhattan Medical Group”) a tune written during Strayhorn’s final illness (he died in 1967) and which appeared on Duke Ellington’s subsequent tribute recording “And His Mother Called Him Bill”.
It was immediately apparent that Hersch is a pianist with an astonishing technique yet there was no shallow flashiness or showing off, no displays of technique for its own sake. Not for Hersch the physical exertions of Keith Jarrett or the UK’s own Robert Mitchell, his approach at first seems more considered and academic and for the listener the results are almost restful and yet there’s a spirit of quiet adventurousness about Hersch’s work. As with Mitchell the left hand occupies a particularly integral role in his playing, here the dense rhythmic clusters essayed by Hersch’s left hand contrasted superbly with the delicately tripping melodies sketched by his right, it was as if each hand was being controlled by a separate independent brain. I’d surmise that this degree of differentiation is extremely difficult to pull off but Hersch makes it seem unforced and natural, serving the music rather than saying “look at me!”. Hersch’s announcing style and off-stage demeanour is similar to his playing, he is quietly but articulately spoken, almost shy at times but leaves nobody in any doubt that here is a keen intelligence at work.

Hersch has accrued an impressive body of work and the following “Duet” (an incongruous title given that this was a solo performance) was drawn from his suite “Song Without Words”. Again there were no histrionics yet Hersch managed to suggest that he has a world of music at his fingertips.

Hersch makes many of his compositions dedications to other musicians and composers. If “Duet” was imbued with a sense of classical lyricism this was taken further with “Pastorale”, a more frank acknowledgement of Hersch’s classical background and a dedication to Robert Schumann. Limpid piano enhanced one of Hersch’s most memorable melodies and he had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand. The sense of concentration from the audience was palpable, hardly an extraneous sound was heard throughout the entire set and every nuance of Hersch’s playing was faithfully reproduced by the Edge’s piano. High quality sound has always been a hallmark of this venue. A stunningly beautiful version of ” Pastorale” also appears on “Alone At The Vanguard”. 

Four years ago Hersch suffered an AIDS related illness and spent two months in a coma battling for life. Happily he survived this ordeal and documented the experience in the suite “My Coma Dreams”. From this larger work came “Dream Of Monk”, a trio version of which appears on the trio album “Alive At The Vanguard”. Certainly Hersch’s playing was reminiscent of Monk, referencing a Monk tune in the opening stanzas (I suspect that this may have been “Crepescule With Nellie”) and often alluding to the great Thelonious but nevertheless transcending mere pastiche.

An unlikely segue of the folk tune “Black Is The Colour Of My True Love’s Hair” and the theme from “Spartacus” produced a more sombre kind of beauty with Hersch emphasising the spaces between the notes in the style of the European/ECM tradition.

Written by the Brazilian composer Jacob Do Bandolim in the 1930’s “Doce De Coco” was one of the most exuberant performances of the night with Hersch relishing the challenge of tackling the joyous, bouncy but often complex Brazilian rhythms. That prodigious left hand was working overtime.
Irving Berlin’s “The Best Thing For You (Would Be Me)” offered an equally rhythmic approach. These two items were punctuated by Hersch’s own tribute to the aforementioned Billy Strayhorn, “Hot House Flower”.

“Mandevilla”, named after a genus of Latin American plant restored the Brazilian theme, Hersch’s writing and playing doing justice to the spectacularly beautiful flowers of the plant in question. With both the performer and audience palpably “in the zone” this was one of the set’s many highlights.

Hersch made a point of thanking us for supporting live music before closing the set with his version of Benny Golson’s “Whisper Not”. Such had been the brilliance of his performance that an encore was inevitable, a wonderfully lyrical rendition of the Hersch original “Valentine”.

I’ll freely admit that solo piano isn’t always my favourite jazz format. I normally like to see and hear the interaction between different musicians but I have to admit that this was quite superb, easily the best solo piano performance I’ve seen. Hersch played for around 75 minutes and the time just flew by. The pianist drew not only myself but the whole audience into his undemonstrative but very welcoming personal sound world. The blend of classical structure and jazz improvisation worked superbly, every performance felt just right, impelled by an inner logic and with no note wasted. Hersch is a quiet virtuoso who is somewhat under appreciated in the UK, hopefully this tour, organised by Olwen Richards who also handles ECM’s artists in the UK, will bring him to greater public recognition. Further glowing reviews from Ivan Hewitt (five stars in the Telegraph) and Tom Gray (London Jazz Blog) of his Purcell Room performance should certainly help the cause. Reading Ivan and Tom’s pieces it would seem that the London setlist was substantially different, I wonder if Fred has been juggling things around throughout the tour.   

In the meantime both of the Vanguard albums are well worth seeking out. “Alone At The Vanguard” contains both “Pastorale” and “Doce De Coco” and succeeds brilliantly as a home listening experience. It’s a superb souvenir of the solo piano tour.

The trio double set is equally worthwhile, the material a beguiling mix of Hersch originals (including dedications to Ornette Coleman and the late Paul Motian) and jazz and bebop standards.Covering a range of styles the interaction between Hersch, Hebert and McPherson is superb with each of the musicians adopting Hersch’s ego-less approach and serving the music faithfully throughout. Like the companion solo disc it is strongly recommended.

Remaining gigs on Fred Hersh’s solo piano tour of the UK are;

OCT 11 OXFORD, Church of St John the Evangelist. 8.00pm. £18.00
01865 305 305

OCT 12 EDINBURGH, Queen’s Hall. 8.00pm. £18, £16.50
0131 668 2019

 

 

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