I have a brief news-oriented piece on Fred Hersch in the September 2010 JazzTimes. It struck me long after submitting the story that the word “gay” does not appear in it, despite the fact that Fred has been out for well over a decade. At first I thought I should have corrected this, but ultimately I’m glad that it didn’t even occur to me while writing. Gay artists don’t exist in some category apart, or at least they shouldn’t, and I’ll wager that Fred agrees. What does bear directly on the subject, however, is Fred’s recent battle with AIDS, which is a main focus of the article. And Fred’s willingness to deal publicly with his near-death experiences in “My Coma Dreams” is of a piece with his decision to come out and set a courageous example back in 1994.
Given the space, I would also have mentioned that Fred’s Whirl album and Paul Motian’s Lost In a Dream both contain versions of Motian’s ballad “Blue Midnight,” giving us a chance to hear the same tune played by Hersch and Jason Moran. Hersch and Moran, we should also add, are both disciples of the late Jaki Byard. On Whirl, Hersch pays tribute with Byard’s “Mrs. Parker of K.C.,” while Moran, on his latest disc TEN, offers Byard’s “To Bob Vatel of Paris.” Tributes within tributes. Hersch told me during our interview that he’s played the Bob Vatel piece as well.
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