Let Yourself Go: Fred Hersch at Jordan Hall
Pianist Fred Hersch's once-in-a-lifetime combination of prowess and patience not only endeared him to musicians likeStan GetzandJim Hall, but it also enabled him to become this generation's reigning poet laureate of the piano. This 1998 live recording, done at his alma mater, the New England Conservatory of Music, offers the perfect format to display his gifts. A keyboard descendant ofAhmad JamalandBill Evans, Hersch delivers stunning interpretations of some time-honored standards, including a fabulous funereal take on the traditional song "Black Is the Color" and Alex North's immortal "Love Theme from Spartacus." Hersch's performances of "The Nearness of You" and "I Loves You Porgy" are imbued with pastel-like harmonic hazes and lyrical lines, while his rendition ofJoni Mitchell's "My Old Man" retains the composer's cool, visual imagery. The piano player's own spectral offering "Departed" could be the jazz canon's new addition we've all been waiting for, while "Speak Low" swings with a snappy, interlocking fugal introduction. Hersch's reading of "Blue Monk" recasts it in a revival-era mood, complete with down-home chordal clusters that evoke that upright piano in the corner of the church.--Eugene Holley Jr.