Fred Hersch

Fred Hersch (born October 21, 1955) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and a 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 written and recorded more than 75 original compositions.

Early life Hersch was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Jewish parents. He began playing the piano at age four, under the tutelage of Jeanne Kirstein. He began composing music at eight, and 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 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. He 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 Hersch took up, which essentially launched his career.

Career In 1977, Hersch moved to New York. One of his earliest professional engagements was with Art Farmer in Los Angeles in 1978. Jazz critic Leonard Feather wrote that Hersch "showed his ability as an accompanist and soloist at the out-of-tune piano". 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, including two of Hersch's own compositions; Leonard Feather gave it 3½ stars.

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 next year, his trio played for singer Chris Connor, who was making a comeback after completing a recovery program for alcoholism. Hersch also played at the Kool Jazz Festival that year, and with Joe Henderson in the New Jazz at the Public series.

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. He played with him in several sessions the following year, and again in 1987, receiving special attention for his solos. In 1986, he taught at Berklee College of Music.

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.

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.

In 2024, Hersch played with Drew Gress and Joey Baron at the Teatro Mario Del Monaco, in Treviso, in North East of Italy. The concert was part of the festival Treviso Suona Jazz Festival.

Composing 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. 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, including Valentine, Three Character Studies, Saloon Songs, and 24 Variations on a Bach Chorale.

Hersch was awarded a 2003 Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for composition. In the same year, he created Leaves of Grass (Palmetto Records), a large-scale setting of Walt Whitman's poetry for two voices (Kurt Elling and Kate McGarry) and an instrumental octet; it was presented in March 2005 at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall as part of a six-city U.S. tour.

Accompanist Hersch has worked with instrumentalists and vocalists in the worlds of jazz (Joe Henderson, Charlie Haden, Art Farmer, Stan Getz, Jay Clayton, and Bill Frisell), classical music (Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Joshua Bell, Christopher O'Riley, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg), and Broadway (Audra McDonald). He has accompanied jazz vocalists such as Nancy King, Norma Winstone and Kurt Elling.

Hersch has taught at The New School and Manhattan School of Music, and conducted a Professional Training Workshop for Young Musicians at The Weill Institute at Carnegie Hall in 2008.

Awards and honors Académie Charles Cros Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in Composition, 2003 Coup de coeur for Alone at the Vanguard, 2011 Grand Prix du Disque for Alive at the Vanguard, 2012 Pianist of the Year, Jazz Journalists Association, 2011, 2016, 2018 Pianist of the Year, DownBeat magazine Critics' Poll, 2015 Artiste étranger de l'année, Jazz magazine in France, 2015 Grand Prix du Disque de l'Académie du Jazz, Solo, 2015 Honorary Doctor of Musical Arts, Northern Kentucky University, 2015 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award 2016 Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Grinnell College, 2016 Prix Honorem in Jazz and Coup de cœur jazz, 2017 Book of the Year about Jazz, Good Things Happen Slowly, Jazz Journalists Association, 2018 and two of Eddie Daniels' albums with Hersch in 1986 and 1987 preceded Short Stories, a collaboration between Janis Siegel and Hersch, co-led and co-produced with arrangements by Hersch, that got a nomination for her vocal performance in 1989. In 1992 finally Dancing in the Dark, his seventh trio recording and second for Chesky Records, was nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance. Hersch is one of the Grammy artists with the most nominations (17) without a win. 1992: Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group for Dancing in the Dark 1995: Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group for I Never Told You: Fred Hersch Plays Johnny Mandel The New York Times described him as "singular among the trailblazers of their art, a largely unsung innovator of this borderless, individualistic jazz – a jazz for the 21st century."

Personal life Illness In 1993, Hersch came out as gay and that he had been treated for HIV since 1984. He fell into a coma in 2008 for two months. When he regained consciousness, he had lost muscular function as a result of his long inactivity and could not play the piano. After rehabilitation, he was able to play again.

Charity work Hersch has been a spokesman and fund-raiser for AIDS services and education agencies since 1993. He has produced and performed on four benefit recordings and in numerous concerts for charities including Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS, and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, which had raised over $250,000 as of June 2013. In April 2016, he played a benefit concert for Buddhist Global Relief. He has also been a keynote speaker and performer at international medical conferences.

Autobiography Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In and Out of Jazz, published in 2017

Discography As leader/co-leader (Artists and labels are linked only once, at first appearance. Lineup can be sorted by "solo", "duo", "trio"... All trios are classic piano trios with (grand) piano, upright bass and drum kit, except for the trio Thirteen Ways, with saxophonist Michael Moore.) Recording date Title Label Year released Personnel / Notes 1984-09 As One JMT 1985 Duo with Jane Ira Bloom. live. 1984-10 Horizons Concord Jazz 1985 Trio with Marc Johnson and Joey Baron 1986-12 Sarabande Sunnyside 1987 Trio with Charlie Haden and Joey Baron 1988-05 E.T.C. Red 1990 Trio E.T.C. with Steve LaSpina and Jeff Hirshfield 1989-12 Heartsongs Sunnyside 1990 Trio with Michael Formanek and Jeff Hirshfield 1989? The French Collection (Jazz Impressions of French Classics) EMI Angel 1989 Trio with Steve LaSpina, Joey Baron and guests: James Newton, Kevin Eubanks, Toots Thielemans, Eddie Daniels 1989? Short Stories Atlantic 1989 Quartet co-led by Janis Siegel plus Harvie Swartz (bass) and Kris Yenny (cello); Siegel was a Grammy nominee for Best Jazz Vocal Performance 2021-08 Breath By Breath Palmetto 2022 with Crosby Street String Quartet, Drew Gress, and Jochen Rückert 2021-11 The Song Is You ECM 2022-09 Duo with Enrico Rava 2023-04Silent, Listening ECM 2024-05Solo piano 2024-05The Surrounding Green ECM 2025-06 Trio with Drew Gress and Joey Baron

As sideman/featured soloist