# Fred Hersch has earned his place in jazz. He talks living Breath by Breath: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2022/11/20/fred-hersch-has-earned-his-place-in-jazz-he-talks-living-breath-by-breath-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2022-11-20T00:02:52+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Fred Hersch probably couldn’t imagine a worse time for an interview.**

When I called the eminent jazz pianist at home in Manhattan, he’d just found out
that the trumpeter and flugelhornist Enrico Rava, 83, with whom he released ”The
Song Is You” (ECM Records) in September, had been admitted to the hospital. The 
same morning, Hersch’s husband Scott Morgan had tested positive for COVID-19. Hersch
thought he’d be spending the next several days performing with Rava in Italy. Instead,
he was on his way out the door to abscond to his and Morgan’s rural Pennsylvania
cottage, alone, while Morgan recovered.

![The Ballad of Fred Hersch (Film) - Department of Music at Princeton  University](
https://i0.wp.com/music.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/FredHersch_SteveJShermanHi-
scaled-1.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

“So, a little bit of drama,” Hersch said placidly, as though discussing breakfast.

That unflappable calm wasn’t forged overnight. Hersch, who turned 67 last month,
became one of the first major jazz artists to come out as gay and HIV positive in
the early 1990s — a professionally risky decision in a scene that was, especially
at that time, overwhelmingly straight and male. Then, in 2008, Hersch nearly died
from septic shock. He spent two months in a medically induced coma; when he was 
well enough to be discharged from the hospital, he all but had to re-teach himself
piano.

Hersch partly attributes his groundedness to his meditation practice, which, he 
insists, isn’t too far off from playing music. (”When I started sitting meditation,
I realized, “Oh, I’ve been doing this my whole life, just on piano bench.”) No wonder
musicians flock to him as a duo partner, a relatively rare configuration in jazz
that requires not only intense focus but profound trust. Up next is “Alive at the
Village Vanguard” (Jan. 6, 2023, Palmetto Records), a duo album recorded live in
2018 at the venerable club with vocalist and bassist Esperanza Spalding.

Pianist and composer Fred Hersch is in concert Nov. 9 at Evanston SPACE.

Before then, he’ll visit at Evanston SPACE with his new trio, which is featured 
on another recent release: “Breath by Breath,” which augments the jazz group with
the plush sonics of a string quartet (the Crosby Street String Quartet; in a nod
to the LaSalle String Quartet, the group named itself after the New York street 
at which they first rehearsed with Hersch).

![Photos – Fred Hersch](https://i0.wp.com/fredhersch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/
07/Fred-Hersch_210522__4306-foto-Roberto-Cifarelli-scaled.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

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