Fred KH Tam

Very few musical compositions truly deserve that overworked adjective “unique,” but it accurately applies to William Walton’s Façade.”] Or perhaps we should call this mostly-early work Façades, as it is recorded here in three parts: “Façade – An Entertainment” (21 pieces dating from 1922); “Façade 2 – A Further Entertainment” (8 more pieces; 1978-79); and the four pieces of “Façade: Additional Numbers” (1922, 1977).

“This very special period made me think and put a lot of things into perspective. I said to myself, finished the superfluous, if this is to be my last album, I do not want to put anything unnecessary, the watchword is therefore: Straight to the essential! Hence the title of this album ”.

Here is Johann Sebastian Bach in transfigured light: with organ chorale preludes, vocal cantata movements and orchestral sinfonias – 24 pieces in all – transcribed for trio and solo piano by Fred Thomas, and threaded into a compelling new sequence by Manfred Eicher. On Three Or One, Bach’s idiom is respectfully explored by three innovative players, a process Thomas describes as “quietly joyful,” and the trio pieces, primarily drawn from Bach’s Orgelbüchlein, acquire a fresh character in the hands of Kazakh violinist Aisha Orazbayeva and British cellist Lucy Railton, musicians more often associated with contemporary composition’s cutting edge.

Winner of the 2016 Prix Django Reinhardt from the Académie du Jazz and nominated for the Victoires de la Musique Jazz award in 2018, the pianist Fred Nardin, who plays with, among others, the Amazing Keystone Big Band and Cécile McLorin Salvant, is one of the great revelations of French Jazz in recent years. The trio’s new album, released in March 2019 on the label Naïve, with Or Bareket and Leon Parker, is proof that high-quality jazz can reach a wide audience, from simple amateurs to the most expert connoisseurs.

Pianist Fred Hersch paid some dues at the Village Vanguard, sitting in as a sideman there from 1979 on, playing with the bands of saxophonist Joe Henderson, trumpeter Art Farmer, alto sax man Lee Konitz, and bassist Ron Carter. But he waited until 1997 to make his debut as a leader. That debut was captured on tape, and surfaces now, years later, with the Fred Hersch Trio '97's @ The Village Vanguard.