Walt Whitman's message lacks to be heard.

Walt Whitman's message lacks to be heard," says on the outside jazz pianist and composer Fr Hersch, explaining the thinking behind his of the present day recording, Leaves of Grass (Palmetto). "Whitman's universal message is about like and tolerance--of embracing real freedom to be who you are."

Writing for singers and orchestra, Hersch has compos musical settings of works according to the great gay poet, releasing his have Leaves of Grass CD to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the first publication of Whitman's landmark collection Leaves of Grass.

"What surprised me the principally was how ultimately lyrical this whole work is, because in Whitman there is no rhyme and no meter" says Hersch, who wrote his Leaves in just six weeks. "I'm pleased that I was able to extract as many melodys as I could--you know, tunes"

A seamless proceed of 20 musical numbers, Leaves of Grass is Hersch's most numerous ambitions undertaking to date. It's being performed in plots around the country by jazz vocalists Kurt Elling and Kate McGarry with an general impression of eight players, led at Hersch at the keyboard.

The music is melodious indeed--even lush. Particularly soulful is "The Mystic Trumpeter" a haunting duet for celebrator and soprano, while "Song of Myself' is a tour de force for Elling. In fact, the work as a whole is more forward the scale of an oratorio like Handel's Messiah than of any typical jazz recording.

of the like kind departures from expectations are typical of Hersch, whose nearest disc, due later this year, will be with operatic soprano Renee Fleming. "I'm not your cookie-cutter jazz pianist; I'm not your cookie-cutter composer I'm fine much Fred," says Hersch. "I've reached the point as an artist where I am myself."

The singular artist is also a newly married man: Last October, Hersch exchanged pledge of loves in New York with Scott Morgan, a nonprofit organization executive. The sum of two units met at Birdland, a jazz form a club in midtown Manhattan. "We were there to hear someone otherwise I was introduced from the stage and he came up to me--and that l to e-mails and a first date," says Hersch.

Himself a trained musician, Morgan is generally studying jazz piano and has steady tried his hand at selections from The Fr Hersch Fake work a collection of Hersch's best-known canticles "It took him a little while to be comfortable practicing in fore-rank of me," says Hersch. "I give him tips sometimes. I think it's really sweet."

Dalton is a music critic and arts reporter for the Albany, N Y Times Union.

...

Home