The Ballad of Fred Hersch

With his hands on the piano keys, eyes closed, leaning forward as if listening for the instrument to guide him, Fred Hersch is a man in complete harmony with his universe, fluidly carving melodies out of thin air. Away from the keys, he's a soft-spoken, warm but exacting composer and collaborator in music and in life, who knows precisely what he wants to hear. Hersch has always been a rarity in the jazz world - a young musician in the '70s and '80s accepted by an older generation of bebop greats; a publicly gay man in the '90s Midwest, bravely and openly HIV-positive; and presently, an eight-time Grammy nominee staging a multimedia performance inspired by his miraculous survival of a two-month, AIDS-related coma. MVFF alumnae filmmakers Charlotte Lagarde and Carrie Lozano began working with Hersch to document that performance, and that collaboration lead to a much deeper and wonderfully intimate portrait of an incomparable artist. (Mill Valley Film Festival)