Fred Hersch at his keyboard (photograph by Roberto Cifarelli, courtesy of ECM Records)
Some readers may recall that 2019 ended with a major release of recordings of jazz pianist Fred Hersch. This was a Palmetto Records box set entitled The Fred Hersch Trio: 10 Years / 6 Discs. Since that time, I have done my best to keep up with his albums, which included his move to the ECM label. Today, that label celebrated his return to trio jazz with the release of The Surrounding Green. This is an album of seven tracks of Hersch performing only with Drew Gress on bass and drummer Joey Baron.
What struck me about this release was that only three of the tracks were Hersch originals: “Plainsong,” “The Surrounding Green,” and “Anticipation.” Mind you, there are also tracks of some of Hersch’s favorite composers, including George Gershwin (“Embraceable You”) and Egberto Gismonti (“Palhaço”). On the other hand, there are two composers that I have not previous encountered on Hersch albums. One is Charlie Haden (who is also an ECM artist). The other is Ornette Coleman, although I may have heard a Coleman selection when Hersch led a trio performance in Herbst Theatre for San Francisco Performance in February of 2015.
That selection is “Law Years,” and it dates back to Coleman’s Science Fiction album, whose eight tracks were recorded by Columbia in the fall of 1971. It was originally recorded as a quintet with a more raucous rhetoric delivered by trumpeter Bobby Bradford and Dewey Redman on tenor saxophone. Hersch, on the other hand, was more interested in the driving rhythm, keeping his dynamics significantly more understated. Those familiar with past Hersch albums probably know that this is the way he prefers to roll, but his preference for understatement continues to reveal any number of adventurous twists and turns for the attentive listener.
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