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Article: Songs of Whitman: jazz pianist Fred Hersch crowns a lifetime of achievement with Leaves of Grass, an evening-long composition based on the poetry of protoqueer poet Walt Whitman. (music).(Interview)
- Article from:
- The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine)
- Article date:
- April 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Regent Media. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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"I've been dogged by my musical choices," says jazz pianist and composer Fred Hersch. "Yes, I chose to play Billy Strayhorn and Cole Porter, who were gay. But flit wasn't great work, I wouldn't have been great in playing their stuff. Their being gay was incidental. In 2003 it's not fundamentally interesting that somebody is gay."
Now, Hersch--perhaps the most prominent gay jazz--turns to Walt Whitman, arguably the father of all gay icons, for his new full-evening piece, Leaves of Grass, debuting in Michigan in late March, then traveling to New Jersey and Washington, D.C., in early April. But it's not because Whitman was gay.
"It's about love, it's about ...