Vanity Fair called him “the most exciting and innovative pianist in jazz in the last decade,” The LA Times called him “an elegant force of musical invention,” The New Yorker called him “a living legend,” and the famous pianist Jason Moran said: “He is on the piano like LeBron James is on the basketball court, he is perfection.” This is Fred Hersch, a jazz pianist and composer who has been nominated for a Grammy Award fifteen times and has regularly won the most prestigious jazz awards, including the Doris Duke Award in 2016, the title of Jazz Pianist of the Year in 2016 and 2018 from the Jazz Journalists Association, and the Prix Honorem de Jazz from L'Académie Charles Cros in 2017 for his entire career. French magazine Jazz named him the International Jazz Artist of 2021. He also received honorary doctorates from Grinnell College and Northern Kentucky University.

He is one of the most prominent soloists in today's jazz, a musician who convincingly tells stories with his performances. Communication with the audience is extremely important to him, which, if he can master it, can give him additional energy for the performance so that he feels completely present and in the zone. He wants those present to be moved and carried away, to feel with him as he explores during the performance, for the concert to be a kind of transformative experience for them. In addition to jazz standards, Hersch also performs his own compositions. As an author, he was inspired by the music of Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter, Duke Ellington and Kenny Wheeler. His works are striking, captivating with lyrical intensity, radiating elaborate harmonies and intertwined counterpoint, timeless melodic invention, and often an irresistible Brazilian groove. He strives to make his compositions memorable. When working on melodies, he tries not to write too much because he wants to leave room for improvisations - his own and those of his collaborators. He tends to write short compositions, except when he writes works of fully notated contemporary classical music.

Hersch gained experience on the New York jazz scene, listening to concerts by musicians who participated in the creation of jazz history, such as Miles Davis, but also playing with legends. An exceptionally sensitive and intuitive artist, he is known for his playing, through which he expresses the depth of emotion and the exciting spark of invention. That is why he has collaborated with jazz greats such as Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, Art Farmer, Toots Thielemans, Lee Konitz, Paquito D'Rivera, Phil Woods, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Chris Potter, Avishai Cohen, Miguel Zenón and others. But he has also had an exceptional career as a bandleader. On his own albums, he has shown great versatility. He has recorded his own compositions, as well as jazz standards and covers of works by famous jazz musicians of various poetics, such as Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker and Wayne Shorter, as well as classics, tango, Jobim's bossa nova, works by contemporary Brazilian authors... In addition to the fact that these standards and authors are close to his understanding of jazz, Hersch adapts them to his personality. He tries to approach these compositions with respect, learn them exactly as they are written, and if there is a text - learn it. But he also likes to have his own point of view on everything he plays, sifting it through his own musical filter.

As a band leader, Hersch recorded around seventy albums, and his musical partners included Esperanza Spalding, Enrico Rava, Anat Cohen, Julian Lage, Ralph Alessi, Norma Winstone, Nancy King, Bill Frisell, Kurt Elling, Gary Burton, Joe Lovano, Diana Krall, Charlie Haden and other famous jazz musicians. Among his particularly appreciated releases are those recorded in duo or trio, but also solo, as he will perform at the Croatian Cultural Center in Split.

Of the famous pianists who have played and recorded solos, Earl Hines, Paul Bley, Jaki Byard, Teddy Wilson and Art Lande have left the strongest impression on him. In solo performances, he is like a fish in water. In fact, he does not plan programs for his solo performances until he goes on stage. He usually has an idea of ​​how he wants to start, but then everything flows from there. For him, it is not what he plays that matters, but how he plays. During solo performances, he seems to meditate while playing. He has been playing with his eyes closed since he was a small child. In addition to specializing in breathtaking solo performances, he has released thirteen solo albums. Jazz Times assessed his solo playing as "a complete, self-sufficient, uniquely pure art form", while All About Jazz noted that “when it comes to the art of solo piano in jazz, there are two classes of performers: Fred Hersch and everyone else.” For his solo album Songs From Home from 2020. All About Jazz wrote that it is “a message of silence and hope in the midst of the suffering we go through in life.” When he plays solo, he focuses on the act of playing and the sound of the piano, finding a feel for the piece he is performing and the acoustics of the particular venue in which the concert is being held, listening to the feedback on the sound. For his solo concerts, he always prepares a special program with works by great jazz composers such as Wayne Shorter and Thelonious Monk, music from Brazil, and standards from the Great American Songbook, which may include compositions by the Beatles, Billy Joel, and Joni Mitchell. In 2006, Hersch became the first artist in the 75-year history of the legendary New York jazz club Village Vanguard to play a week-long engagement as solo pianist. His second solo appearance at the club is documented on the album Alone at the Vanguard, nominated for a Grammy Award. It is only one of the five recordings he made in that iconic club and released on albums.

Album OpenBook 2017's was, as the title implies, his most open and intimate solo effort, and was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2018. The album's release coincided with the publication of his acclaimed memoir Good Things Happen SlowlyThe book convincingly reveals the story of his life in music, along with a candid confession about his health problems. Hersch is the first openly gay and HIV-positive jazz musician. Washington Post i New York Times It was listed among the five best memoirs of 2017, and the Jazz Journalists Association named it the best jazz book of 2018. His story was also told through a feature-length documentary. The Ballad of Fred Hersch by acclaimed directors Carrie Lozano and Charlotte Lagarde, which premiered to a sold-out crowd at the prestigious Full Frame Film Festival in 2016. In his memoir, he talks about coming to terms with his identity – both in his personal life and in his music. For years, he lived a divided life as a gay man in the jazz world, but he eventually reconciled both sides of himself. His decision to come out publicly about his HIV status also inspired some people to do the same so they would know who their friends were and who would support them. Through that process, he also realized that he had to live a unique life if he wanted to be a better artist. For two decades, Hersch has been a passionate spokesperson and fundraiser for AIDS services and educational agencies. He has organized numerous house concerts and performed on four charity albums that he produced, as well as at many charity concerts, including Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS i Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Thanks to his reputation, musicians have participated in these projects without compensation. To date, his efforts have raised more than $300.000. He has also been a keynote speaker and performer at international medical conferences in the US and Europe. In 2020, he raised $50.000 for the Jazz Foundation of America with a limited edition live duo EP with singer Esperanza Spalding and Eight x 88, a streaming event from Steinway Hall that featured eight of New York's greatest jazz pianists in solo and duo formats.

Davor Hrvoj