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Double Bass Fred Hersch Spam.

Paul Warburton

Paul Warburton

In Memoriam
Aug 17, 2003
9,424
663
84
Denver, Co.
#1
Had a nice hang last night up in Boulder with Fred Hersch and Art Lande. We hit a couple clubs and did the "Jazz Jury" thing.
Fred's in for a piano duet gig here in Denver with Art at Dazzle, a nice Jazz joint.
Fred's trio will be at the Vanguard (John Hubert, bass and Billy Hart, drums) the 15th-20th. Ya'll out there should show if you can.
Fred's latest side "Whirl" on Palmetto will be released on the 22nd with John and Eric McPherson on drums. Buncha new Fred comps and some standards.
Kinda "inside".......before Julia and I walked to our car, Fred pulled me back and said "Man, you and I have been through hell but we're still here, huh." In our different ways, we both are lucky to be around. I'm damn glad he is for sure.
(me too, actually).
Fabulous player and a truly great cat.
 
#4
Chris Fitzgerald said:
Good for you, Unc. Fred's one of my musical heroes. Glad you got to hang with him.
Click to expand...

We only did one gig together a few years back with Art on drums and Paul McCandless on reeds. Art came up with one of his "theme" kinda performances. The rules on this one was...everybody takes a turn calling a tune, (Standard or Jazz Standard) the key, tempo and time signature. No written charts allowed. Fred called "My funny Valentine", G m, straight 8ths. First call....I thought "I ain't gonna like this ****". It was really great.

EDIT: John, give us a report if you think of it. Have a great evening listening to some Master players.
 
#7
We just returned from NYC on Sunday. A marvelous time was had by all.

The night before hearing Fred and Co. at the Vanguard we went to Carnegie Hall and heard Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette. It's been a while since I had been there last and I forgot how good that hall sounds. It's an instrument unto itself. Everyone had sound reinforcement but the piano and drums sounded so natural. Just beautiful. Gary's bass amplification on the other hand was not so flattering. A little metallic. Great playing all around though.

The next night my wife and I arrived in the village early for dinner and were able be in the front of the line when the doors opened. I chose to sit right up to the stage in the center with great unobstructed views. We were literally 5 feet off of the treble end of the Steinway. John Hebert and Billy Hart were the other 2/3 of the trio. Once again great playing all around but I must say that John Hebert's sound and playing just knocked me out. What a fine, fine musician. Very little in the way of consequtive quarter notes but very swinging and a lot of very melodic counterpoint to Fred's playing. His sound was without any hint of amplification but he was definitely plugged in to his amplifier and I saw him turn it on. Nice contrast to Gary's sound the night before.

I don't know how they get decent recordings in that place because the #1 train rumbles by every 10 minutes. You feel and hear it.
 
#8
Heard a nice little feature on Hersch on NPR last night (All Things Considered, maybe?). In the interview, he detailed some of the grave medical problems he had starting a couple of years ago, and it's amazing that he can even play at all, let alone at the high level he does. He even said his playing has improved since before the coma, etc. Overall, he sounded incredibly positive and optimistic.

Played some clips from "Whirl," which I will definitely be picking up.
 
#9
Thanks for checking in, John and Mike.
I guess, besides the points that John brought up about Fred's and John's playing (and I'm sure Billy did a great job on the gig) the playing of drummer Eric McPherson on "Whirl" really impresses me. His use of mallets and his fingers adds color to the sound and I couldn't help think of Frank Butler's playing from back in the late 50's and early 60's on those old Contemporary Records from the West Coast.
 
#10
Billy did use mallets on a few tunes. I don't remember him using hand drumming techniques. And yes, he played great.

One thing that I forgot to mention is that Fred plays inside rhythmically while John and Billy were getting pretty out there. I lost 1 on several occasions although they clearly did not.
 

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