Friday, January 31, 2014

THE FRED HERSCH TRIO PUT ON A GOOD CONCERT AT THE LYDIA MENDELSSOHN THEATRE

Eric McPerson, John Hebert, and Fred Hersch
The Fred Hersch trio can play every popular form of jazz out there. Hersch, drummer Eric McPherson and bassist John Hebert proved that Thursday night at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre in Ann Arbor, MI.

The trio played music from Whirl, Alive At The Vanguard, and test-drove some new tunes that will be on an upcoming album. Hersch didn’t give the name of it or the release date.

The trio has a reputation for being imaginative, and daring with a blue-collar work mentality. McPherson was the only showman, showing on Sad Poet that he can navigate tempo changes without breaking a sweat. Hebert is a well-rounded ally the trio couldn't survive without.

The trio mixing Hersch’s tune Floating with Ornette Coleman’s Lonely Woman came across as a salute to free-jazz. It was a fist-pumping moment.

Hersch did some incredible things on the piano without being showy. He can swing from zero to 60 at will, but his God given gift is playing ballads. 

The ballads the trio played last night, especially You the Night and the Music could’ve softened up the hardest death row inmates. The trio wasn’t big on frills but it put in an honest night’s work.  

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