Reviews of the week

The freshly released album The Surrounding Green by the Fred Hersch Trio is welcomed by media on both sides of the Atlantic

No one quite gets to the heart of the matter like Fred Hersch. The American pianist deploys just the right combination of sensitivity, intelligence and emotion to absorb the listener in a private sensation that would under other circumstances never get expressed. Other musicians might seem to be thinking too hard or letting go too much. Hersch gets it just right. He touches that keyboard and whoosh — you are there. […] He is supported by two longtime collaborators, the bassist Drew Gress and the drummer Joey Baron. Their mutual sympathy is total. They give ‘Embraceable You’ a Poinciana beat, the New Orleans-influenced tempo that evokes long hot summers. It’s a sweet song with a sexy lyric, so Hersch emphasises the ‘naughty baby’ of the latter by dropping a series of teasing harmonic hints before — at last — embracing the tune at the end. On Ornette Coleman’s ‘Law Years’ the trio put their heads together for some postbop problem-solving. You can feel the pleasurable concentration of a teasing puzzle being worked out. Charlie Haden’s ‘First Song’ has a bluesy Bill Evans quality. Gress starts it unaccompanied, then Hersch and Baron join him for a late-night wander. Put your own thoughts to their nocturnal musings and be part of the intimate world of Fred Hersch.

Chris Pearson, The Times (Five stars)

What is here judiciously explores some broad aesthetic choices and instead has wonderful Hersch originals, music by the Gershwins, Egberto Gismonti, Ornette Coleman and by Coleman’s classic Atlantic period bassist Charlie Haden. Accompanied by Drew Gress on double bass – who has appeared on several Hersch albums including ‘Passion Flower: the Music of Billy Strayhorn’ in the 1990s and ‘Breath By Breath’ in 2022 – and by Joey Baron on drums, well known for his work with Bill Frisell and with Enrico Pieranunzi and who was on the wondrous ‘Sarabande’ with Hersch and Charlie Haden, the cadences and panoply of rich harmonic resource found on the title track ‘The Surrounding Green’ are stunning. I think the song I liked most is the version of Charlie Haden’s ‘First Song’ that Abbey Lincoln wrote words for. Certainly this album in its entirety sits well with last year’s beautiful solo album ‘Silent, Listening’ and was recorded in the same studio in Lugano. […] Manfred Eicher has produced many amazing albums in more than 55 years since ECM started – ‘The Surrounding Green’ is one more of his most brilliant.

Stephen Graham, Marlbank (Five stars)

Hersch has conditioned us to expect something special with his recorded output and this album does not disappoint, the quiet dynamism, introspection and joy that’s communicated is uplifting. It’s a trio at the top of their game.

Mike Collins, UK Jazz News

In a world where turmoil arrives almost instantly via notifications on our devices, a Fred Hersch album feels like sanctuary—an invitation to slow down and listen deeply. ‘The Surrounding Green’, his third release for ECM, once again finds the pianist in tandem with producer Manfred Eicher, the ideal partner to bring focus to the pianist’s gentle improvisational and instrumental artistry. […] Everything is elegant here; the trio has achieved mastery of their collective approach, not in raging romps or virtuosic displays, but in the clarity of their communication and their use of space. Gress and Baron glide in and out of the spotlight with superb timing, while Hersch crafts improvisations that are both intricate and unhurried, quietly commanding attention. It is music that doesn’t need to raise its voice to be heard and offers, in its own quiet way, a form of escape.

Neil Duggan, All About Jazz

Beloved by critics and fans, pianist Fred Hersch has earned every bit of his accolades. Soaked in jazz tradition, but equally driven to pursue his own distinctive vision, Hersch possesses one of the most divine keyboard techniques of anyone currently working. Clearly classically trained, the Cincinnati native is more likely to imply his skill than put it on display, putting the tunes in charge on his latest album ‘The Surrounding Green’. […] Though clearly capable of virtuoso solos and cheekily complicated compositions, Hersch would rather use his impressive technique in service to the song, letting the audience in without much effort required. ‘The Surrounding Green’ brings Hersch’s melody-first approach to an accessible and satisfying peak.

Michael Toland, The Big Takeover

Es ist Herschs dritte Arbeit für ECM, und eine besonders geglückte. Am bass ist Drew Gress, mit Hersch seit Urzeiten vertraut wie Baron, aber, merkwürdig genug, hier zum ersten Mal mit ihm zusammen im Trio vereint. In der Aura des Synergetikers Hersch klingt das Trio dennoch wie die jahrzehntelange musikalische Lebensgemeinschaft, die es virtuell ist: vibrierend im telepathisch interaktiven Verständnis. Drei Eigenkompositionen von Hersch (sein bekannter ‘Plainsong’, neu das Titelstück und ein Latin-Thriller, ‘Anticipation’). Wunderbar tänzerisch ausgelassen eine Trouvaille von Ornette Coleman (‘Law Years’), eine Art brasilianisches Aquarell von Egberto Gismonti und eine Art Kantate von Charlie Haden (‘First Song’). Dazu der Gershwin-Standard ‘Embraceable You’, verrätselt präsentiert und erst kurz vor Ende erkennbar aufgelöst. Das gilt vielleicht auch für die Methodik dieses feingewirkten Trios generell: Es verbindet auf meisterhafte Weise luzide Transparenz mit einem Hang zu (unpathetischer) Verrätselung.

Peter Rüedi, Weltwoche

Fred Hersch, subtiler Tastenpoet, plaudert mit Bassist Drew Gress und Drummer Joey Baron anhand von Standards und Eigenbaukompositionen wie dem malerischen ‘Plainsong’. In Trios geht es immer auch um die Modellierung von in sich stimmigen Miniaturen, die aus ausgereifter Interaktion erwachsen. Damit wird die paradoxe, reizvolle Mixtur aus Struktur und sich entfaltender Individualität erreicht. Und: Ob Ornette Colemans ‘Law Years’ oder Egberto Gismontis ‘Palhaço’: Herschs so präzise wie entschleunigte Klavierkunst trifft den Seelenkern der Songs.

Ljubiša Tošić, Der Standard

Sensazionale anche il debutto in trio, per l’etichetta che mantiene il suo inesauribile faro in Manfred Eicher, di Fred Hersch, autentico gigante del pianismo contemporaneo. L’autonomia espressiva, il magistero tecnico strumentale, la complementazione dei rispettivi orientamenti estetici, elevano questo album come un immediato caposaldo della più aurea tradizione del formato prediletto da Bill Evans, completato in questo caso dall’affidabilissima ritmica interpretata da Drew Gress e Joey Baron, sodali di provata militanza che affiancano Hersch ad intervalli più che regolari. Il leader è ormai un prezioso distillatore di una musica quintessenziale e sempre capace di sorprendere […] Album di riferimento temporale, destinato a rimanere un classico di casa ECM.

Vittorio Pio, Suono

The vinyl-issue of the album Tractus with music by Arvo Pärt enchants a German reviewer

Eingespielt mit dem Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, dem Tallinn Chamber Orchestra und der glänzenden Sopranistin Maria Listra unter der Leitung von Tonu Kaljuste, bringen diese Aufnahmen den ganzen zwischen tonloser Stille und nachhallenden Klang, zwischen Schweigsamkeit und notierter Diktion angelegten Kosmos des großen Komponisten zum Ausdruck. Pärt selbst versteht einen Großteil seines Schaffens als ein Klang gewordenes Gebet, wobei das Religiöse seiner Musik auch deutlich in einer zeitgenössischen, von spiritueller Tiefe gezeichneten Geisteshaltung rezipiert werden kann. Pärt drückt in seinen Werken einen Bezug zwischen Leid und Vergebung aus, die in einfachen Formen und Motiven akustisch umgesetzt wird. Trotz aller Simplizität entsteht jedoch ein stark berührender, subjektiver Klangrausch, dessen (stille) Vollkommenheit Erhabenheit ausstrahlt. Der estnischen Pärt-Experte Tonu Kaljuste führt mit seinen beiden Klangkörpern durch diese akustische Askese von Sehnsucht und Hoffnung, von Verzweiflung und Erlösung. Zu Pärts schlichtem, spirituell aufgeladenen Minimalismus findet man immer Zugang – auch in einer von Überfluss und rasendem Aktionismus gezeichneten Welt. Vielleicht ja auch gerade in einer solchen. Denn hier wird diese reflektierende Schwelgerei in reduzierten Tönen zu einer absoluten sinnlichen Erfahrung.

Jörg Konrad, Kultkomplott

A UK reaction to the album Watersong by Savina Yannatou

Yannatou’s fifth ECM album revolves around the theme of water, the life-sustaining source that is both a blessing and a curse, a theme that brings together 14 songs from around the Mediterranean world and from different epochs. […] The set ends with an unexpected and intense meeting between the African American gospel song ‘Wade In The Water’ and the Egyptian traditional ‘Allah Musau (God Of Moses).’ The multicultural juxtapositions are sometimes surprising, the singers and musicians working well together to illuminate the connections between the varying traditions. The entire set is wondrous.

Simon Adams, Jazz Journal

The vinyl-reissue of Bennie Maupin’s The Jewel in the Lotus within the Luminessence-series is reviewed in a French music magazine

‘The Jewel In The Lotus’ serait-il l’un des chefs-d’œuvre oubliés du vaste catalogue ECM? La réponse est oui, et cette magnifique reedition vinyle de la collection Luminessence nous rappelled à son bon souvenir. […] S’il nest pas sans évoquer parfois les atmosphéres envoûtnantes du Mwandishi Sextet, voire de ‘Bitches Brew’  (auquel, faut-il le rappeler, Bennie Maupin avait contribué), ‘The Jewel In The Lotus’ se démarque cependant  de ces esthétiques singulières pour explorer et défricher d’autres territoires, où les envolées libres (le bien nommé ‘Excursion’) côtoient des plages aussi apaisantes que fascinantes (le morceau titre, qui dure plus de dix minutes), habitées par des musiciens qu’on sent profondément impliqués, Hancock au premier chef, qu’on aura rarement entendu, sur disque, aussi libéré.

Étienne Dorsay, Jazz News