Downbeat Review: Fred Hersch Trio, Alive At The Vanguard
by Shaun Brady (Downbeat)
Fred Hersch Trio
Alive At The Vanguard
PALMETTO 2159
★★★★1/2
Nico Gori/Fred Hersch
Da Vinci
BEE JAZZ 051
★★★1/2
In just under a decade, Fred Hersch has released three albums for Palmetto recorded at the Village Vanguard. His 2003 debut for the label, Live At The Village Vanguard, documented his trio with Drew Gress and Nasheet Waits, while last year’s Alone At The Vanguard captured the final night of his second week-long solo stint at the venerable club.
Alive At The Vanguard features Hersch’s latest trio, with bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson, which debuted on his 2010 CD Whirl. The single-letter addition to the title’s first word is significant, denoting his remarkable recovery from a two-month coma in 2008. Since that time, Hersch has released several CDs and premiered his multimedia piece “My Coma Dreams,” but its recollection in the title of this two-disc set seems particularly appropriate.
Of course, Hersch was renowned for his incisive emotionality long before his own life took such a dramatic turn, and in Hébert and McPherson he’s found one of the finest units to flesh out his own profoundly lyrical explorations. The repertoire on this set, culled from the trio’s week-long run at the Vanguard, spans originals, jazz standards and songbook favorites. McPherson may be the drummer who’s best discovered how to accompany Hersch’s delicate expressivity, demonstrating strength without force and enriching each piece with sweeping textures and evolving dynamics. Hébert’s robust tones seem to swell and bloom to fill the spaces in between, maintaining a fluid time and a narrative directness. They’re also able to sketch portraits of the likes of Thelonious Monk and Ornette Coleman with-out succumbing to imitation.
Duo performances are often likened to a dance, but Hersch and clarinetist Nico Gori evoke that comparison with a Fred and Gingerly grace, whether on the winsome tango of “Mandevilla” or the bluesy trot of “Down Home.” The pair met at the 2010 North Sea Jazz Festival, where Hersch was performing with his Trio +2 and Gori with Stefano Bollani’s ensemble. They found an instant rapport that is evident in the intimate Da Vinci. Over the course of 10 selections, the two slide among classical, folk, and an array of jazz idioms, often within a single tune. Hersch displays his ingrained understanding of the piano tradition from stride to modernism without being showy, while Gori transitions from European classicism to dixieland swing.
Alive At The Vanguard: Disc One: Havana; Tristesse (for Paul Mo- tian); Segment; Lonely Woman/Nardis; Dream Of Monk; Rising, Falling; Softly As In A Morning Sunrise; Doxy (57:59). Disc Two: Opener (For EMac); I Fall In Love Too Easily; Jackalope; The Wind/ Moon And Sand; Sartorial (For Ornette); From This Moment On; The Song Is You/Played Twice (57:42).
personnel: Fred Hersch, piano; John Hébert, bass; Eric McPher- son, drums. ordering info: palmetto-records.com
Da Vinci: Old Devil Moon; Da Vinci; Mandevilla; Down Home; 2–5; Lee’s Dream; Hot House Flower; Doce De Coco; At The Close Of The Day; Tea For Two. (65:01) personnel: Nico Gori, clarinet; Fred Hersch, piano.
ordering info: beejazz.com
Da Vinci: Old Devil Moon; Da Vinci; Mandevilla; Down Home; 2–5; Lee’s Dream; Hot House Flower; Doce De Coco; At The Close Of The Day; Tea For Two. (65:01) personnel: Nico Gori, clarinet; Fred Hersch, piano.
ordering info: beejazz.com
