Fred named International Jazz Artist of the Year 2021 by Jazz Magazine (France)
At the beginning of the pandemic, as it is now called without even remembering the name of the virus that caused it,
Fred Hersch felt helpless, hopeless, like all musicians, like everyone else.
So he played, one piece a day, at home, Tune of the Day he had named this daily appointment intended for the jazz fans and internet users, like him confined at home, and undoubtedly delighted, then, that such a pianist continues to make live music which makes his heart beat, and theirs.
At the end of 2020, Fred Hersch released a miraculous solo piano album, “Songs From Home”. Ten Tunes of the Day recorded at his home in Pennsylvania, standards and other classics by Cole Porter, Joni Mitchell, Duke Ellington, Jimmy Webb, Paul McCartney and… Fred Hersch. Ten more reasons, if any were needed, to (re) tell oneself that he is today one of the greatest, if not the greatest jazz pianist still active, as his recent concerts at the Bal Blomet have reminded us.
2022 will start under the best auspices, with Breath By Breath with his new trio + string quartet. A new composition by Fred will be premiered in early January on the stage of Carnegie Hall in New York
