The Surrounding Green Fred Hersch, Drew Gress, Joey Baron

• 1 Plainsong 05:50
• 2 Law Years 04:14
• 3 The Surrounding Green 05:40
• 4 Palhaço 05:32
• 5 Embraceable You 06:32
• 6 First Song 07:27
• 7 Anticipation 06:14
• Total Runtime 41:29

Info for The Surrounding Green

Masterful trio interplay reliant on deeply honed three-way communication and a refined sense of understatement make Fred Hersch’s third recording for ECM an essential entry into the piano trio canon. Hersch tackles a handful of 20th century compositions – spanning from standards to less frequented jazz tunes – as well as three originals, with Drew Gress on bass and Joey Baron on drums.

Drew and Joey are longstanding companions of Fred’s who have played with him on and off since the early and late 80s respectively – in various combinations Fred was joined by the one or the other on over a dozen recordings. This however marks their first studio recording as a trio, and their exceptional collective approach, shaped by decades of experience, can be heard (and felt) in every song.

“Joey is such a genius with dynamics that it was no problem at all for us to hear each other in the Auditorio,” notes Hersch. “And the way that Drew plays, for example on ‘Plainsong’ and ‘The Surrounding Green’, there’s so much trust in how we get through the harmony, where we pause and where we move on. I feel that on this record you really hear the history! I hope that people can feel the maturity of the interaction, the sonic world and the sensitivity at play.”

Fred’s own pieces are striking in their lyrical intensity, beaming with elaborate harmonies and interwoven counterpoint on “Plainsong”, timeless melodic invention on the title track “The Surrounding Green” and irresistible Brazilian groove on “Anticipation”. While previous solo renditions of “Plainsong” already introduced the melody’s intimate quality, the trio formula heard here proves quietly revelatory, with bass and drums adding a fresh pulse and expanded harmonic dimensions to the tune. The title track and “Anticipation” are new entries into the Hersch songbook.

As to his approach when writing a new song, Fred insists that he usually composes within a limit timeframe – 45 minutes, the kitchen timer keeps track. His favourite tune writers, Fred says, “Monk, Wayne shorter, Duke or Kenny Wheeler – many of their songs don’t look like much on a page, but they have a kind of world to them. Everything Monk wrote fits on 86 pages – everything! I’m a believer in that a good tune needs no more than two essential elements – it has to be memorable, as in it has to stick. And it should be fun to play, leaving room for the player to bring in whatever they bring.”

The trio’s pass at Ornette Coleman’s “Law Years” is a post-free swinging affair, while Egberto Gismonti’s “Palhaço” offers an elegant journey of subtle trio interaction. And on the Gershwin brothers’ “Embraceable You”, the pianist and his accompanists boast infectious nonchalance. Dedicated to the haunting quality of a melancholy melody, the trio also explores Charlie Haden’s “The First Song”. The late bassist appeared on one of Fred’s earliest studio dates in 1987, also with Baron on drums. Their intimate bond with the song is apparent throughout, making for a particularly stirring interpretation.

“This record to me is very concentrated, which always seems to be the case when I work with Manfred,” says Fred. “It marks my third record with him, all three recorded in Lugano’s Auditorio Stelio Molo – and I can definitely say it’s the perfect condition for kind of playing live, but in a controlled environment.”

Recorded in May 2024, The Surrounding Green was produced by Manfred Eicher.

"Fred Hersch’s work is marked by its inwardness, the allusiveness, the restraint. But beneath such apparent discretion bursts a raw sensuality—the flesh of the music, its pulse." (Francis Marmande, Le Monde)

Fred Hersch, piano
Drew Gress, double bass
Joey Baron, drums

Fred Hersch
A member of jazz’s piano pantheon, Fred Hersch has been an influential creative force over more than three decades as an improviser, composer, educator, bandleader, collaborator, and recording artist. He has been proclaimed “the most arrestingly innovative pianist in jazz over the last decade” by Vanity Fair and “a living legend” by The New Yorker. A seventeen-time Grammy nominee, Hersch has garnered jazz’s most prestigious awards, including a Doris Duke Artist (2016), Jazz Pianist of the Year from the Jazz Journalists Association (2011, 2016, 2018), and the Jazz Magazine (France) International Artist of the Year (2021). The Fred Hersch Trio was voted the #1 Jazz Group in the 2019 DownBeat Critics Poll.

An acclaimed and influential solo pianist, he has twelve solo recordings in his catalog including the 2024 release, Silent, Listening which is a collaboration with legendary producer Manfred Eicher for the ECM label. All About Jazz has remarked that “when it comes to the art of solo piano in jazz, there are two classes of performers: Fred Hersch and everybody else” and The New York Times simply calls him “a master who plays it his way”.

Through more than twelve albums, the Fred Hersch Triohas remained at the pinnacle of modern jazz, venerated as the epitome of thrilling interplay and dynamic spontaneity. The Wall Street Journal calls the trio “one of the major ensembles of our time,” while The New Yorker has applauded it for playing with “high lyricism and high danger.” They were named the #1 Jazz Group of the Year by DownBeat magazine. and appeared at major jazz festivals throughout Europe and the US and have regularly headlined at the legendary Village Vanguard since 1997. His next trio album for ECM Records, The Surrounding Green with Drew Gress and Joey Baron, will be released in June of 2025.

Hersch has more than sixty albums to his credit as leader or co-leader. His 2022 Breath By Breath features him playing his own compositions inspired by his insight meditation practice with his trio and with the Crosby Street String Quartet. A 2022 duo project with Italian trumpet maestro Enrico Rava, The Song Is You (ECM), was followed by the 2023 release of Alive at the Village Vanguard, a duo with dazzling jazz vocalist esperanza spalding that was named a 2023 Top Ten Jazz Album by DownBeat and was nominated for two 2024 Grammy Awards. His last album with his long-standing trio, 2018’s Live in Europe (Palmetto), documents one remarkable evening in Brussels and has been hailed as its best to date.

An exceptionally responsive and intuitive collaborator, Hersch has engaged in duo partnerships with a number of spirited artists, including clarinetist Anat Cohen; guitarists Bill Frisell, Gilad Hekselman and Julian Lage; saxophonists Chris Potter, Joe Lovano and Miguel Zenon; trumpeters Avishai Cohen and Enrico Rava; and vocalists Kurt Elling, esperanza spalding, Kate McGarry, Audra McDonald, Cécile McLorin Salvant, and Renée Fleming. His many sideman credits include Joe Henderson, Art Farmer, Stan Getz, Charlie Haden, Toots Thielemans and other jazz legends.

Hersch’s memoir, Good Things Happen Slowly (Crown Archetype), compellingly reveals the story of his life in music along with a frank recounting of his health struggles and triumphs as the first openly gay, HIV-positive jazz musician. The book was named one of 2017’s Five Best Memoirs by the Washington Post and the New York Times, and acclaimed as 2018’s Book on Jazz of the Year by the JJA. His story has also been told in a feature documentary by filmmakers Carrie Lozano and Charlotte Lagarde, The Ballad of Fred Hersch, which premiered to a sold-out house at the Full Frame Film Festival in 2016 and is now streaming. His acclaimed jazz/theater piece My Coma Dreams, created with librettist/director Herschel Garfein for actor/singer, eleven musicians and immersive video, premiered in 2011 and is also available online.

While widely renowned for his playing, Hersch has earned similar distinction with his composing, garnering a Guggenheim Fellowship in composition, among other awards. His large-scale setting of Walt Whitman’s poetry for two voices and instrumental octet, Leaves of Grass, was selected to open the 2017 Jazz at Lincoln Center season at the Appel Room. He has received commissions from Roomful of Teeth, Igor Levit, the Lucerne Festival, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the Doris Duke Millennium Fund, and the Gilmore Keyboard Festival. He has been awarded ten composition residencies at MacDowell and one at Bellagio.

HIV-positive for almost four decades, Hersch has been a passionate spokesman and fundraiser for AIDS services and education agencies. He has produced and performed on four benefit recordings and in numerous concerts for charities; to date, his efforts have raised more than $300,000. He has also been a keynote speaker and performer at international medical conferences in the U.S. and Europe. In 2020 he raised $50,000 for the Jazz Foundation of America with a live duo EP with vocalist esperanza spalding and Eight x 88, a streaming event featuring eight of New York’s greatest jazz pianists in solo and duo formats.

A committed educator, Hersch has taught at New England Conservatory, the Juilliard School, the New School, Rutgers University and the Manhattan School of Music and has given master classes around the world. Hersch’s influence has been widely felt on a new generation of jazz pianists, from former students Brad Mehldau, Sullivan Fortner, Dan Tepfer and Ethan Iverson to his friend and piano colleague Jason Moran, who has said, “Fred at the piano is like LeBron James on the basketball court. He’s perfection.”

Drew Gress
an American jazz double-bassist/composer, was born November 20, 1959 in Trenton, New Jersey. He was raised in Philadelphia and is currently based in New York City. Gresss was a teenager when jazz and double bass became a passion. He joined the Pennsbury Concert Jazz Band in 1975 and spent two years as the band’s bassist and arranger. In 1977 Gress’s interest in composition for large ensembles such as the ones of Johnny Richards and Billy May led him to Baltimore’s Towson University. There he studied composition with Hank Levy. Hank is well-known for his work with Stan Kenton and Don Ellis. Gress formed a friendship with Ellery Eskelin (saxophonist), while at Towson. He also cofounded Joint Venture, Paul Smoker, and Phil Haynes. Between 1987 and 1994, they released three albums on Enja Records. He was a member of the Baltimore/Washington DC band Enja Records from 1987 to 1994. He was also a member of the Peabody Conservatory and Towson State University’s faculties. In 1989, he formed Tekke with Glenn Cashman and Michael Smith. He cofounded Paraphrase, a cooperative improvising group with composer/saxophonist Tim Berne and drummer Tom Rainey in 1997. They pursued a compositional approach for free improvisational practice. They recorded two live albums and toured extensively together until 2002. He released Heyday in 1998 with Jagged Sky, which featured Kenny Wollesen, Ben Monder and David Binney. ...

Joey Baron
was born 1955 in Richmond ,Va. He started drumming at age 9, performing professionally the following year. His early musical education included private drum lessons as well as the wide genre radio programing of the 1960s. After finishing high school early through a special accelerated program, Mr. Baron spent time in Boston attending the Berklee School of Music.He settled in Los Angeles,California in 1975 to realize a dream of playing with the great jazz musician Carmen McRae, consequently becoming a much sought after singer’s drummer. Since moving to New York City in 1983, Mr. Baron has continued to expand his scope and developed his musical ideas through collaborations with various artists including Red Rodney, Bill Frisell, Tim Berne, Ron Carter, and John Zorn ,with whom the collaboration continues to the present. Current projects include solo concert tours, duo concerts with Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell, his own band, “Killer Joey”,The John Abercrombie Quartet, and the Schulkowsky, Studer, Baron drum trio.

Avant-garde jazz drummer Joey Baron has worked with an impressive list of musicians, including everyone from Bill Frisell, Stan Getz, and Tony Bennett to John Zorn, Laurie Anderson, Fred Frith, and Tim Berne. His own groups he has led include the “Down Home Group”, Barondown, and Killer Joey and was a member of “Naked City” (with John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith and Wayne Horvitz) and of Zorn’s group Masada (Dave Douglas and Greg Cohen).

Booklet for The Surrounding Green