Pianists, not to mention those who like to listen to them, have benefited greatly from advances in recording technology.
Nowadays, it is normal for front rank improvisers to record pretty much every concert, just in case they deliver a performance worthy of release; one where all the variables of instrument, audience, and inspiration come together, or as Fred Hersch puts it in his liner note here, the pianist is in “that zone where everything is working – heart, mind and technique”.
Recorded live in an old church in upstate New York last August, here is one of the greats of contemporary jazz piano – elegant, erudite, playful, emotional, engaged and thoroughly engaging – giving what he considers to be one of his best performances of recent years.
One is inclined to agree.
