Fred Hersch’s latest album, “Plays Jobim,” was released on the Sunnyside label in July. At a certain level, however, you can hardly call it a new project. As Hersch notes in the following interview, the sessions actually date back to 2001.
Not that the delay had any negative impact on the final results. “Plays Jobim” is a bracing work, a pleasing solo-piano exploration of the famed bossa nova composer. While the Jobim standard “Desafinado” is included, Hersch has focused more on recording lesser-known pieces; in the end, the album serves as something of a primer on the variety of Jobim’s work and, needless to say, Hersch’s skills as both creator and interpreter.
“I say in the liner notes that I was first turned on to authentic bossa nova
by a guitarist, Kenny Poole, in my hometown of Cincinnati,” Hersch told me. “Then, when I moved to NYC in 1977, I shortly got a house gig at a Brazilian club,
Cachaça.”
Expect to hear some Jobim on Wednesday, when Hersch performs at Yoshi’s in Oakland. In the meantime, here’s what the pianist had to say about the project. He also refers to a Jobim TV special from the ‘60s; check out a clip below.
Question: Listening to the album, I was struck by the ability of a single instrument to uncover and explore compositional complexities that, almost paradoxically, would be obscured by more instruments. How prominent a role did that play in your decision to make this a solo disc as opposed to recording with a group of musicians?
Hersch: This is my eighth purely solo album (four of them are “songbooks" – Rodgers and Hammerstein, Monk, Johnny Mandel, Cole Porter – and the others are mixed material) so I am very comfortable with playing alone. And, sometimes, less is more. I can create texture and rhythm, go from dynamic extreme to dynamic extreme instantly, and bring out inner voices that can be obscured in other formats. The CD was recorded in 2001 as part of a three-disc (mostly) solo-piano set for Nonesuch, "Songs Without Words." This was to be the fourth disc but was never released until now.
Question: Because it features some of Jobim's lesser-known compositions, the disc offers listeners the opportunity to gain a broader portrait of his work. How did you go about choosing these particular songs?
Hersch: I was able to get a trove of music from Jobim's son Paolo and just played through everything – and came up with some that are lesser-known, at least in the U.S. I always choose songs that somehow "speak" to me. And I select songs that will allow me to be "Fred" while respecting the composition.
Generally, the less-known a song is, the straighter I play it – and I feel that I can take more liberties with songs that are better known. But this is not a hard and fast rule. It's always case by case.
Question: While Jobim is readily associated with Stan Getz, I first discovered this music through his albums with Frank Sinatra. In retrospect, what role did those high-profile collaborations play in not only popularizing Jobim's music but essentially introducing American jazz and pop fans to the idea of world beat?
Hersch: Both of them definitely raised the profile of Brazilian music in the U.S. This was in the 1960s, when things were "cool" and "hip" and bossa nova is certainly that! Never heard Frank sing Jobim except on a TV show that they did together.
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