Fred Hersch - Solo

2015 release

Fred Hersch swoops and soars in his high-flying interactive trio. He sets a daunting standard as an exploratory duo partner and creates brilliantly detailed compositions and arrangements for variously configured chamber ensembles.

But as an improviser of unsurpassed lyricism and technique he's at his most intimate and revealing in a solo setting.

With Fred Hersch Solo, the pianist kicks off a creatively fecund yearlong celebration of his 60th birthday with a definitive statement of his solo artistry. In many ways, Solo distills the essence of Hersch's pianistic expression.

Recorded in a jewel-like Catskills church at the 2014 Windham Chamber Music Festivals, the set evolves with a compelling internal emotional logic all it's own, flowing through Hersch's familiar solo touchstones (Jobim, Ellingtonia, Monk, originals) that turn into vessels for his supremely graceful invention.