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FRED HERSCH: FINDING INSPIRATION

By Ken Dryden

Fred Hersch’s contributions as a pianist, composer, bandleader and sideman have made him one of the top musicians of his generation. The Cincinnati native was drawn to jazz in his youth and benefited from the mentoring of local musicians who challenged him. Fred needed to expand his horizons, so he drove to Boston to track down Jaki Byard at the New England Conservatory for a spontaneous audition, which Jaki granted and told him immediately afterward that he was accepted. Fred worked with many remarkable teachers there, including Joe Maneri, Jimmy Giuffre and George Russell. Fred recalls, “After graduation in June 1977, I was living in the Village. I wanted to play with the best players in the world, and felt that I had the tools and wanted to be challenged. I was mentored by bassist Sam Jones; from him, I learned about swing in a deep way. Playing with him was a lot of cred, because people respected him.

Through Sam I got to Art Farmer, through Art I got to Joe Henderson, then I was with Stan Getz for a brief stint. I played gigs with Charlie Haden, Buster Williams, Al Foster, Billy Hart. The skill set for a young jazz pianist moving to New York in 1977 was to have good time, be able to swing, know the tunes, be able to comp. Sight-reading was a plus, but you weren’t expected to compose all your own original music. NEC was a jazz department then, not yet a jazz program. Even though I benefited, I don’t feel that I’m a part of the jazz education era. Back then, you could hang out at the bar with all the great musicians. It was a very open scene. Even though I was playing great gigs with those people, I was still playing parties, in the Catskills, in restaurants, paying dues and I made my first album at the age of thirty. You had to have a record label then, someone willing to back you to do it. I’ve been able to release one or two albums a year over the past 38 years.”

To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/a76282af89.html#page/10.

DIANNE REEVES: THE RIGHT CHOICE   

by Joyce Jones

When I connected with Dianne Reeves to gather additional information for this feature, she informed me that she took off for the summer. “Girl, I have my LIFE, my house, my enjoyment, my peace – all of those kinds of things,” she says. Even though Dianne had taken a break, she was working on a recording project with her longtime collaborator and “brother from another mother” Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo. “He’s a very close friend of mine. I enjoy working with him,” she says. The recording is scheduled to be released in January 2025. “After many years of working with Romero, and my love for Brazilian music, because I think that every recording that I’ve ever done, there’s some part of Brazil that shows itself in my work,” says Dianne. “We’ve, for years, done duo concerts, and we (have) a lot of fun and joy together. We decided to go into the studio and do what we’ve always done.” Dianne adds, “It’s a small record, but it’s big with heart, and it shows our relationship with music.”

Although Dianne was born in Detroit, MI, she was raised in her family home of Denver, CO, where she has settled in for quite some time now. Dianne’s grandmother’s father was a founding minister of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Denver. However, a large motivation for steering Dianne into music was her family, as many members were entertainers and musicians. Two of her grandmother’s sisters were entertainers. She has an uncle who was a bassist with the Colorado Symphony for over 40 years. He was the first Black member of the San Francisco Symphony, and he played European classical and jazz bass. 

To read more, visit https://mags.hothousejazzmagazine.com/8eb448a8b9.html#page/15.