Enrico Rava & Fred Hersch

Special duo

The Italian trumpeter and flugelhorn player Enrico Rava and the American pianist Fred Hersch: both such idiosyncratic individuals that you would not expect them to be on stage together, let alone in a duo. Similarities are their controlled playing and their search for beauty in sound. The reason for this concert is their album 'The Song Is You' on ECM Records, on which they form a close unit despite the many diverse elements: own work, standards, a Brazilian piece and classics by Thelonious Monk.

Balance

Since the 1960s, Enrico Rava has been striving for a balance between melody and abstraction, tradition and avant-garde, and European and American influences. The brass player from Turin has played on historic albums such as Steve Lacy's 'The Forest and the Zoo', Carla Bley's 'Escalator Over the Hill' and Manfred Schoof's 'European Echoes'.

Inspiration

Fred Hersch caused a sensation this year with another unexpected duo, with singer Esperanza Spalding on the album 'Live at the Village Vanguard'. In the 70s, he started in New York in the bands of Lee Konitz and Art Farmer. Thanks to famous students such as Brad Mehldau and Ethan Iverson (The Bad Plus), he inspired a whole generation of pianists.