Fred Hersch

Fred Hersch (born October 21, 1955) is an American jazz pianist, composer, educator and HIV/AIDS activist, 17-time Grammy nominée.

He was the first person to play weeklong engagements as a solo pianist at the Village Vanguard in New York City.

He has recorded more than 75 of his jazz compositions.

Hersch was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Jewish parents.

He began playing the piano at the age of four (under the tutelage of Jeanne Kirstein) and began to compose music by eight.

He won national piano competitions starting at the age of ten.

Hersch first became interested in jazz while at Grinnell College in Iowa.

He dropped out of school and started playing jazz in Cincinnati.

He continued his studies at the New England Conservatory under Jaki Byard, attracting attention from the press – "a fine showcase for Fred Hersch" – in a college recital.

On graduation, he became a jazz piano instructor at the college.

In 1977, Hersch moved to New York.

One of Fred Hersch's earliest professional engagements was with Art Farmer in Los Angeles in 1978.

Jazz critic Leonard Feather wrote that he "showed his ability as an accompanist and soloist at the out-of-tune piano".

In 1980, the Fred Hersch Trio played at B. Dalton Bookseller, one of many fringe events that were an offshoot of the Newport Jazz Festival.

The following year, his trio played for singer Chris Connor, who was making a comeback after completing a recovery program for alcoholism.

He played at the Kool Jazz Festival, and with Joe Henderson in the New Jazz at the Public series in the same year.

He played with Farmer again in 1981.

In 1982, the album A Work of Art (Art Farmer Quartet, Concord Jazz CJ-179), was released, with Hersch on piano.

It included two original compositions by Hersch.

Leonard Feather gave it 3½ stars.

In 1983, Hersch played a duo session with bassist Ratzo Harris at the Knickerbocker Saloon, New York.

The New York Times wrote: "Mr. Hersch is a romantic. He is openly involved in what he is playing and projects this involvement with body English and facial expressions that subtly underline the sense of his music. His lines often become gently billowing waves of sound, and he rises and falls, tenses and relaxes along with them."

In 1983–84, Hersch played many sessions with Jane Ira Bloom in several venues, and with whom he recorded the album, Mighty Lights.

In 1985, he played with the Jamie Baum Quartet.

In 1986, he played with Toots Thielemans at the Great Woods jazz festival.

In 1986, he taught at Berklee College of Music.

He played with him in several sessions the following year, and again in 1987, receiving special attention for his solos.

He was the pianist for the Eddie Daniels quartet in 1987 and appeared on his album, To Bird with Love.

In 1988, Hersch played in Somerville, Massachusetts with his quintet at the Willow Jazz Club.

The Boston Globe described him as "an elegant, highly melodic player."

In 1989, Hersch played with Janis Siegel of The Manhattan Transfer and they recorded together in a studio set up in his home.

His first solo piano recording came in 1993: Fred Hersch at Maybeck.

A disc of his through-composed works, Fred Hersch: Concert Music 2001-2006, was released by Naxos Records.

Many of Hersch's compositions have been transcribed by music publisher Edition Peters.

These include Valentine, Three Character Studies, Saloon Songs, and 24 Variations on a Bach Chorale.

In 2006, Palmetto Records released the solo CD Fred Hersch in Amsterdam: Live at the Bimhuis, and released his eighth solo disc, Fred Hersch Plays Jobim, in 2009.

Hersch's own compositions feature prominently in nearly all of his concerts and recordings.

He has received commissions from the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, the Doris Duke Foundation, the Miller Theatre at Columbia University, the Gramercy Trio and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.

In his 2017 autobiography, Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In and Out of Jazz, Hersch talks about seeing Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Arkestra at Gilly's, a now closed jazz club in Dayton, Ohio.

Hersch recalls being in the audience when bandleader Art Pepper kicked the pianist hired for the occasion off the stand and asked if there was anyone in the audience who could sit in, an offer that Fred took up which essentially launched his career.