Fred Hersch Trio

Gimme 5

Five questions with Fred Hersch

Don Lucoff:  You typically don’t come through Colorado very often, do you recall the last couple of times you have performed in Denver?

Fred Hersch: I’m pretty sure the last few times I’ve played in Denver have been at Dazzle which was very enjoyable.

DL: You have had a couple of monumental occasions in 2025, your 70th birthday this past October, and 40th anniversary of your AIDS diagnosis. How are you feeling physically and spiritually?

FH: Despite experiencing numerous health challenges over the last four decades, I’m doing extremely well and have plenty of energy. Really enjoying playing music! Grateful to be able to spread a bit of joy in these challenging times and have a lot of fun myself. I do have an ongoing insight and meditation practice for almost 30 years and that helps keep me grounded every day. I do think about all the people who I knew who passed from AIDS and wonder what they would be doing with their lives had they not been taken from us. I’m extremely fortunate to have a loving partner and excellent medical care. Feeling grateful for sure!

DL: You are a big proponent of attending compositional retreats. How does that setting inspire you differently than other environments that you have composed in over time?

FH: I have been a ten-time resident at MacDowell, the artist residency in Peterborough NH. It was there that I composed my setting of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” for Kurt Elling, Kate McGarry, and an instrumental octet; and “My Coma Dreams,” a multimedia jazz/theater piece based on a series of dreams I recalled after a two-month coma in 2008. And numerous jazz tunes, some classical piano music and chamber music. The residencies lasted four to six weeks and it was very stimulating to be around creative artists from many genres, share meals with them, see/hear their work and have a great deal of fun. During my time there, I gained lifelong friends and collaborators and insight into how others create.

DL: After many years with Palmetto, Nonesuch, and Sunnyside Records with a few assorted indie labels along the way since your 1985 trio debut on Concord Records, the move to working with Manfred Eicher and ECM is a major career shift. Can you expound on that, given that ECM is such a storied and highly recognized label now in its sixth decade.

FH: As a self-taught jazz pianist in Cincinnati in the early ’70s, I began buying ECM albums at the local record shop. Dave Holland’s Conference of the Birds, Keith Jarrett’s Bremen/Lausanne, and Chick Corea and Gary Burton’s Crystal Silence. The covers were gorgeous, the sound was great and I became an ECM fan, buying pretty much everything I could get my hands on. I met Manfred very organically. In 2021 I recorded a duo album with Italian trumpet maestro Enrico Rava, which turned out very well — and Manfred mentioned that we should do a project together. This led to my solo debut for the label, recorded in the same auditorium at the Swiss Radio in Lugano, Switzerland: Silent, Listening; then last year’s trio album with Drew Gress and Joey Baron, The Surrounding Green. Manfred is one of the greatest record producers in history and he brings so much to the sessions! It’s an honor to work with them, and it’s hard to believe this happened fifty years after I bought those first ECM recordings.

DL: You have recorded 13 trio albums beginning in 1985, many of which feature Drew Gress. And over the years recording and performing with so many remarkable bassists from Marc Johnson, esperanza spalding, Michael Formanek, Charlie Haden, and John Hébert. How has Drew shaped the sound of your trio? And how much has Johnathan Blake played live with you and Drew?

FH: I have played with Drew Gress almost 40 years, since the late 1980s. We have a deep understanding and I (and many others) consider him to be the “bass player’s bass player.” He is extremely modest yet very deep, with a fantastic sound and a wealth of experience in all areas of jazz; he has appeared on almost 500 albums! Johnathan is justifiably one of the most in-demand drummers on the scene and he and Drew have a wonderful connection. We have played together at the Village Vanguard for a few weeks over the last several years and this is the first time the three of us have been on the road together. He radiates joy in everything he plays.