A pianist and composer whose work has received widespread critical acclaim in a career spanning over 20 years, Fred Hersch is among the foremost artists in the world of jazz today. Described as a "master who plays it his way" by The New York Times, Hersch has released 17 albums as a solo artist or bandleader, two of which were nominated for Grammy awards for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance. He has co-led another 11 albums, including the recent duo CD Songs We Know, with guitarist Bill Frisell, and has appeared as sideman or featured soloist on over 80 further recordings.

Hersch has been widely recognized in recent years for his ability to re-invent the standard jazz repertoire, investigating time-tested classics and interpreting them with keen insight, fresh ideas and extraordinary technique. This has been the focus of his acclaimed series of "songbook" releases, albums focusing on the work of a single composer. The first of these, 1995's I Never Told You: Fred Hersch Plays Johnny Mandel, garnered Hersch his second Grammy nomination. Since signing with Nonesuch Records, Hersch has presented three more such projects: Passion Flower: Fred Hersch plays Billy Strayhorn (an album featuring him as soloist, in a trio and with a string orchestra), Fred Hersch Plays Rodgers and Hammerstein and Thelonious: Fred Hersch Plays Monk (both solo piano albums). Thelonious was called "a personal triumph of the first order" by the Village Voice and "a landmark album" by the Washington Post, sentiments echoed by critics worldwide. His newest Nonesuch release is Let Yourself Go, an eclectic solo disc recorded live at Boston's famed Jordan Hall.

When he first arrived in New York from is native Cincinnati in 1977, Hersch quickly became one of the most in-demand pianists in town. He has had long-time musical associations with such outstanding artists as saxophonists Joe Henderson, Stan Getz and Jane Ira Bloom, flugelhornist Art Farmer, harmonica virtuoso Toots Thielemans, vibraphonist Gary Burton, bassist Charlie Haden, and clarinettist Eddie Daniels, and has also shared a sensitive rapport with such diverse vocalists as The Manhattan Transfer's Janis Siegel and operatic soprano Dawn Upshaw. Since 1986, Hersch has led his own trio, giving voice to his own compositions as well as reinvigorating the standards. He has recorded seven trio albums and has appeared with it in major clubs and festivals worldwide including regular engagements at New York's legendary Village Vanguard. He is also increasingly in demand as a solo artist; the London newspaper The Guardian stated of one recent performance that it "testified to the emergence of maybe the most complete jazz-derived piano improvising style on the contemporary scene," while the New York Observer simply said, "Solo piano is a damn new impossible feat, yet Mr. Hersch seems born to it." In recent years Hersch has become a visible and passionate spokesman and fundraiser for AIDS research and relief agencies. On behalf of one such organization, Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS, he has recorded two albums, Last Night When We Were Young: The Ballad Album, which has raised over $125,000 for AIDS services and education. This was followed by Fred Hersch & Friends: The Duo Album on which he played duets with 12 jazz legends including Tommy Flanagan, Joe Lovano, Diana Krall, Lee Konitz and Kenny Barron.

An honors graduate and former faculty member of The New England Conservatory of Music, Hersch's classical training is "apparent in the fluency of his articulation and the timbral variety he brings to his touch," according to the Los Angeles Times. Hersch has an ongoing two-piano partnership with concert pianist Jeffrey Kahane, and he continues to appear as a soloist with orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. He is currently on the jazz studies faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.

Hersch was the subject of a TV feature profile on CBS Sunday Morning with Dr. Billy Taylor and has been featured on such popular National Public Radio programs as Morning Edition, Fresh Air and Jazz. Set; he has twice been Marian McPartland's guest on the long-running series Piano Jazz. In May of 1999 a new Hersch dance score, commissioned by The Doris Duke Foundation for the Bill T.Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, had its premiere at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC and at the American Dance Festival at Duke University.

Biography courtesy of Nonesuch Records.