Jochen Rueckert

Iconic pianist/composer Fred Hersch was an early adopter of new technologies and new ways forward when the pandemic hit in early 2020. But he's also been among the most eager to return to live performance and collaboration now that life has begun to resume some semblance of normality. In August 2021 he returned to the studio to record one of his most ambitious projects to date: Breath By Breath, his first album ever pairing jazz rhythm section with string quartet. Breath By Breath draws inspiration from the pianist's longtime practice of mindfulness meditation, centered on the new eight-movement "Sati Suite." But while the album is certainly contemplative and lustrous, it's far from being merely an ambient backdrop for blissful relaxation - the music here is as fully engaged and emotionally rich as any that Hersch has made over the course of his remarkable career.

2019 is a milestone year for altoist Will Vinson. It’s twenty years since he relocated to New York from his native London, and commenced an exploration that led him into the heart of that city’s legendary scene, where the tradition and the avant-garde intersect. Seven records as leader have confirmed his stature: now, for his debut on Whirlwind, titled four forty one, he’s dug into his contact book to present the realization of a long-held dream - to record with five of the greatest contemporary piano masters. Sullivan Fortner, Tigran Hamasyan, Gerald Clayton, Fred Hersch, and long-time associate Gonzalo Rubalcaba are each matched with their respective bass and drum team of Matt Brewer and Obed Calvaire, Matt Penman and Billy Hart, Matt Brewer and Clarence Penn, Rick Rosato and Jochen Rueckert, and Larry Grenadier and Eric Harland, to create five dream trios for Vinson to play off “as a bystander and participant at the same time.”

Three apprehensive reharmonizations of "My Favorite Things" are a moody thread running through Haunted Heart and Other Ballads by the Marc Copland trio. Against this backdrop, Copland goes on to play with the shadows, casting elating illumination and a kind of cloudy angst in measured proportions. The trio interplay here is on a very high order, the product of a regular weekly gig of some duration to which drummer Jochen Rueckert, a master of temporal texture, is the relative newcomer. Bassist Drew Gress and Copland have been at it for a long time, and cohesion is in evidence at all times. […] Throughout, these are impressive performances that stay with the listener. Haunted Heart and Other Ballads is a wonderful recording. ~Bill Bennett, Jazztimes