Paul Hecht Quartet - Pyrography - Album Release

BLUESTEM JAZZ PRESENTATION |

Paul Hecht is a multifaceted artist with expertise that spans far beyond the discipline of music. A trained jazz pianist whose language and form was nurtured through an early encounter with Yusef Lateef, Hecht quickly became fascinated with realms of creativity outside a single genre and medium. Moving from the background of a professionally trained musician to that of language, Hecht earned a joint PhD and MFA from Cornell University in poetry and poetry composition, during which time he also became trained as a classical violinist. Eventually settling in Chicago, Hecht befriended members of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and Gidon Kremer’s Lockenhaus Festival in Austria, and worked to connect the two, culminating in a performance by then-ICE director Claire Chase at Lockenhaus. 

Throughout Hecht’s time in Chicago, he proved his commitment to artistic expansion: working as an English professor, Hecht continued to grow musically, all the while teaching theater, and directing student performances of Shakespeare and Renaissance drama. In 2022, Hecht’s work in English literary tradition came to a head when he published a book on the history of poetry in the English Renaissance with the prestigious publisher Oxford University Press. In totality, Hecht has established himself as one of the most authoritatively well-rounded artists on the contemporary jazz scene, with versatility in motion, speech, and music. It is from this trifecta that Hecht grew the seeds of his newest project: a jazz-rooted album of original compositions entitled Pyrography.

The word “pyrography,” when translated literally from Greek, simply means “fire-writing.” The idea of burning language into wood, creating beauty and language with such control over the otherwise formidable force of flame, is an image that has stuck with Hecht as a prominent metaphor for creativity. In exploring this idea, Hecht notes that “jazz is ephemeral by nature, attuned to the moment, the air, the room, the particular meeting of people in a place,” and he asks, “what does it mean to write for such a medium?” 

Beyond these levels of meaning, the album’s title, Pyrography, is a direct allusion to the poem of the same title by John Ashbery in which the poet seems to explore (in his usual ironic, abstract fashion) an overview of the history of continental America from a societal and geographic lens.

And not just the major events but the whole incredible
Mass of everything happening simultaneously and pairing off,
Channeling itself into history, will unroll
As carefully and as casually as a conversation in the next room 

In this section of the poem, Hecht found a mirror for the duality of composition and improvisation coexisting throughout jazz, and set to work “carefully and casually” to create Pyrography.

The album’s opening track, “He Made Up His Mind,” strikes a balance between Hecht’s attraction to complexity, and his desire to get to the root of things. Using modern jazz harmonic language with hints of Brazilian elements and progressive rock, this piece preserves the earnest beauty of the melody while keeping the environment around it tantalizingly unsettled. “Waltz For Franny” steers closer to the normative jazz tradition in its use of melody and form but steps away for its improvisatory section, which opens up and allows musicians almost total freedom. In so doing, this piece again showcases the simple ideas, or an idea of simplicity, while allowing for urgent, burning elaboration in its solo section. “Frankie’s Place” is a love letter to the music of Mark Turner in which Hecht internalizes and personalizes his engagement with one of the most original and fully-worked out improvisational languages of modern jazz.

One of the most poignantly idea-driven tracks on the album is the title track “Pyrography.” The opening statement and mode of this piece is inspired by what Hecht calls an “apocalyptic” chord from a Prokofiev violin sonata, while the remainder of the piece is almost entirely improvised, guided by a powerful mental image. Hecht describes the image as a dream he had in great lucidity of “a vast factory or warehouse space with flames shooting from blast furnaces into the night sky”—likely inspired by years regularly driving past the industrial expanse of the steel mills of Gary, Indiana. In stark contrast, “Dasha” is a piece inspired in duality: on one hand by the humorous antics of a kitten, and on the other by the people Hecht met during time spent in Ukraine, where “Dasha” is a loving nickname for the common female name “Daria.” The opening of this piece similarly utilizes such a duality, opening with an almost direct transcription from a Schumann symphony, which begins in near-despair before finding its way to a joyous melodic gesture. Throughout this piece, the combination of sounds, mingled with the undertones of implied meaning from the title, Hecht evokes a sense of youthful innocence and hope for a renewal and a brighter future.

The personnel on Pyrography is a trio expanded on four tracks to a quartet. Led by pianist and composer Paul Hecht, Pyrography features acclaimed drummer Gustavo Cortiñas, highly sought after bassist Ben Dillinger, and one of Chicago’s great staples, trumpeter James Davis. Hecht describes Cortiñas as a “dynamo” who is “a remarkable conversationalist as a player, a joy to play with in both traditional and experimental contexts.” Hecht sings similar praise of Dillinger, whom he lauds as “a fierce player, with a deep theoretical understanding of music, and a very wide ear.” Davis is beloved by Hecht as “bringing an incredible amount, from great insights into how to sequence solos and make the best sense of pieces, to his phenomenal and inspiring playing.” All in all, Hecht’s quartet melds seamlessly and walks perfectly between the written and the improvised as they realize Hecht’s vision.

With Pyrography, Hecht showcases the beauty of interdisciplinary inspiration, and his studied, thoughtful inspiration shines through equally in the moments of detailed composition and distilled, emotive improvisation. Truly, even as Hecht’s ensemble burns their sonic imprints into the air like the art after which their album is named, so will the music masterfully inscribe itself upon the hearts and minds of its listeners.

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