Fred Again

One hundred tapes. Recorded by Jean Vapeur on the now legendary Nagra IV S tape recorder. A box full of the original sound recordings for Step Across the Border, the film Werner Penzel and I travelled around the world to make in 1988-1989 with musician Fred Frith. Just before the collapse of Socialism and the digital take-over of the world. Twenty minutes on every tape. That is, thirty-three hours of sound material. In the end, only ninety minutes of it are in the film. The rest of the recordings have been slumbering away in an old crate, and trailed along on our every studio move, surviving icy winters and even a flood in our archive vault. Now and again I need to clean the tape debris off the Nagra with a brush. Little piles of magnetic dust. But the sounds are still there! Wear debris, a symbol of elapsed time.

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.

Begin Again, Hersch's new Palmetto release featuring the Cologne-based WDR Big Band, arranged and conducted by six-time Grammy winner Vince Mendoza, serves as both an expertly curated overview of the pianist's oeuvre and a singular new entry in his expansive discography. The album features nine of Hersch's original compositions, plucked from throughout his various projects and preferred formats, including one previously unrecorded piece.

Fred Ho and the Monkey Orchestra - Monkey: Part Two (1997) {Koch Jazz - KOC 3-7840-2H1}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 379 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 152 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 29 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1997 Koch Jazz / TAP | KOC 3-7840-2H1
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Experimental / Modern Creative / Baritone Saxophone / Flute

I’m honored to discuss this CD. I found Fred Ho’s Monkey: Part One a glorious surprise, and this second section of his musical setting for the trickster tale is no disappointment. The ensemble’s personnel has few changes, notably Francis Wong as tenorist; but its spirit remains dramatic, flexible and visionary as Ho achieves tremendous range from trombone, three saxophones (including his own baritone), bass and drums, and several performers on Chinese traditional instruments.

"It began in Big Sur. Fred Frith and I, sitting naked on two small wooden blocks, legs crossed, hands resting on our knees. A small clearing on a rise above the Pacific Ocean, waves pounding a steady beat against the rocks far below. I had arrived at the Zen retreat the previous afternoon and Fred was one of the first people I ran into. I’d met him in more formal situations at Ralph Records, but we had not previously hung out socially. Fred was the current artist-in-residence at Esalen, and had been there nearly six weeks. He’d invited me to join him in an "air bath" the next morning and so here we sat, bathing in the morning sea air. The glow of Fred's skin made me sadly aware of how much time I spent in a windowless studio. I could easily pass for an albino. Fred was not big on talking, so we sat in quiet contemplation. But soon I became aware of a humming sound and realized Fred was singing quietly to himself accompanied by the rhythm of the waves."