Fred Hersch
Fred Hersch ( born October 21, 1955 in Cincinnati, Ohio ) is a New York jazz scene associated American jazz pianist and composer. Known as a frontier between jazz and classical music, the influence of pianist Bill Evans has prescribed an impressionist style.
Biography
After Fred Hersch had already begun at the age of four years playing the piano, he attended as a young man up to his graduation in 1977, the New England Conservatory in Boston. He then lived in New York, where he became in a short time a sought after pianist. Hersch occurred at this time as a sideman with band projects of Stan Getz, Joe Henderson, Jane Ira Bloom, Toots Thielemans, Gary Burton, Art Farmer and Charlie Haden in appearance. Soon Hersch also aroused by his own compositions, band projects, particularly international attention with his solo programs, as his albums with Monk or Rogers and Hammerstein interpretations in 1996/97. So far, Fred Hersch has been involved in over 25 albums as a solo artist or bandleader, as well as over a hundred albums as a companion or guest musicians. He was the first musician to him was given the honor to perform in the famous New York jazz club the Village Vanguard a week with his solo piano program. Various projects with musicians from the field of classical music - call to the concert pianist Jeffrey Kahane or the violinist Nadja Salerno -Sonnenberg are - or solo performances with various orchestras demonstrate the versatility of the pianist Hersch.
Fred Hersch received three Grammy nominations, twice for best instrumental jazz recording, even for the best instrumental composition.
As a teacher Hersch taught for ten years at the New England Conservatory in Boston, at the New School, the Manhattan School of Music and Western Michigan University. One of his most famous student is the American pianist Brad Mehldau.
As one of the few gay jazz musicians who have personally outed in public, Fred Hersch sets according to their own HIV diagnosis in many projects for AIDS patients. Even the revenue of four of his CD releases are used to provide financial support for various organizations.