Am I the only one who finds Fred Hersch......

[Pete C]

if I AM the only one I will retreat to a monastery for the next 6 months with a vow of silence.

Can't you just do it for its own sake?

[AllenLowe]

I'd go stir crazy.

[Pete C]

I'm waiting for your unique take on Gregorian chants.

But it had better be REAL Gregorian chants. This is actually a very good album, but the only thing it has to do with Gregorian chant is that it came out when a Gregorian chant album from Spain was a surprise hit and they were clearly trying to capitalize on that.

[Larry Kart]

I don't like pianists who play with their palms.

I'm the same way with pianists who pick their noses and then go and put their fingers right on the keyboard. Nasty.

I think I've mentioned before that I once saw organist Don Patterson play a longish solo with his tongue, in a convincing imitation of cunnilingus. That was also the first time I hear Von Freeman play. Quite an afternoon.

[AllenLowe]

sorry I missed that; as for Bley, above, playing Gregorian chants, well, as far as I'm concerned Paul can do no wrong.

[Pete C]

I wonder if Patterson had a duck tongue. They have stiff cartilage right down the middle, better to play organ with.

[JSngry]

I don't like pianists who play with their palms.

I'm the same way with pianists who pick their noses and then go and put their fingers right on the keyboard. Nasty.

I think I've mentioned before that I once saw organist Don Patterson play a longish solo with his tongue, in a convincing imitation of cunnilingus.

What was he doing with his palms? Or do I not want to know that?

[Larry Kart]

Don't recall any palm action. It was a private party, no play on words intended.

Quite a band -- Patterson, Von, guitarist Sam Thomas, and Wilbur Campbell. Von was incredible. I think the middle-aged couple the party was for (probably their anniversary) were friends of his.

[JSngry]

whoa...that was quite a band. I should travel in such circles as to get invited to that kind of party!

[Pete C]

I sometimes walk in circles, but it's not much of a party.

[JSngry]

You should hire Don Patterson then.

Or at least his tongue.

[Chuck Nessa]

I don't like pianists who play with their palms.

I'm the same way with pianists who pick their noses and then go and put their fingers right on the keyboard. Nasty.

I think I've mentioned before that I once saw organist Don Patterson play a longish solo with his tongue, in a convincing imitation of cunnilingus. That was also the first time I hear Von Freeman play. Quite an afternoon.

That might be a reason Von declined a session with an organ late in life.

[jlhoots]

Not sure what several of the above posts have to do with Fred Hersch.

FWIW, I like some of his piano CD's, others I can live without. However "extremely boring" is not my take.

[Hardbopjazz]

I don't find what CDs I have by him boring at all. I've seen him live several times and enjoyed the shows.

[Peter Friedman]

There are some piano players I like lalmost every time I hear them live or on recordings. There are others whose work never or only rarely appeals

to me.

Hersch is in the 3rd group. Some of his recordings are, for me, boring. Yet there are others that I do enjoy. Though impossible to actually quantify, I would say

it is roughly a 50 - 50 split.

[John Tapscott]

As for me and my house - what Peter said.

[Pete C]

I would urge any who haven't heard it to check out his solo Monk album. That was the one that sold me on him.

[slide_advantage_redoux]

I find most people boring, to be honest with you.

That's why I play Name Three People, to learn about new people, people who are not yet boring to me. I'm sure they'll become boring soon enough, but until they do, it's like leaving a faucet running to keep it from freezing up, something you just gotta do!

Hey, you better not find L.T.B. boring!

[JSngry]

Only long enough to get excited about getting un-bored!

[crisp]

I particularly like that Rodgers and Hammerstein disc - lots of jazzers do Rodgers and Hart but very few to Rodgers and Hammerstein. I suspect the rich, Romantic harmony is off-putting; Hersch seems to like exploring that zone.

I always assumed it was because Rodgers and Hammerstein songs don't swing. They are closer in spirit to operetta than to modern Broadway; a bit more formal. The only ones that get seem to played regularly are Surrey with the Fringe on Top, My Favourite Things and It Might as Well Be Spring. That said, I love it when a jazz musician tackles one of the others, eg, Howard McGhee with The Sound of Music.

[A Lark Ascending]

I particularly like that Rodgers and Hammerstein disc - lots of jazzers do Rodgers and Hart but very few to Rodgers and Hammerstein. I suspect the rich, Romantic harmony is off-putting; Hersch seems to like exploring that zone.

I always assumed it was because Rodgers and Hammerstein songs don't swing. They are closer in spirit to operetta than to modern Broadway; a bit more formal. The only ones that get seem to played regularly are Surrey with the Fringe on Top, My Favourite Things and It Might as Well Be Spring. That said, I love it when a jazz musician tackles one of the others, eg, Howard McGhee with The Sound of Music.

A lot of Broadway tunes don't swing - jazz musicians find ways to swing them.

Rodgers and Hart always sound to me to be very much out of the American vernacular tradition; R + Hamm, by contrast seem to have more in common harmonically with someone like Korngold. The music modulates to strange keys much more commonly - listen especial to the music for the ballet like dream sequences in some of those shows. Probably leads to them sounding a bit too Middle European, a bit too kafe und kuchen (mit schlagsahne) to be comfortable for jazz improvising.

I did read a bio of Rodgers about ten years back - can't recall if it had anything to say about the change.

Edited September 16, 2012 by A Lark Ascending

[Pete C]

The change can be attributed to Hammerstein, who was very much out of the operetta tradition. With Hart, Rodgers wrote the tunes first and Hart fitted the lyrics. Hammerstein insisted on writing the lyrics first, so Rodgers' melodies, rhythms and tempos were very much subject to the needs of Hammerstein's lyrics.

[JSngry]

Ray Charles say he don't much particular care:

[papsrus]

Fred who?

[A Lark Ascending]

The change can be attributed to Hammerstein, who was very much out of the operetta tradition. With Hart, Rodgers wrote the tunes first and Hart fitted the lyrics. Hammerstein insisted on writing the lyrics first, so Rodgers' melodies, rhythms and tempos were very much subject to the needs of Hammerstein's lyrics.

That makes sense.