by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Fred Hersch
Enlarge Matthew Sussman

Ready for Freddie.

Fred Hersch
Matthew Sussman

Ready for Freddie.

Various Internets have alerted us to the existence of David Hajdu's profile of Fred Hersch, now online and in The New York Times Magazine. Thanks, social media!

If you've been following Hersch over the last two years, not much of this will be entirely new. (Read this stunning interview.) He almost died from AIDS-related complications twice in 2008, but he released two albums in 2009, and even started working on a new project which deals with his nightmares from, you know, being in a coma for months. This after cutting himself a career the old-fashioned way: getting schooled by veterans night after night at venues like the old Bradley's in Manhattan.

Some profound details do emerge, though: he's actually known as a "fearsome taskmaster" in rehearsals, for instance. And Hajdu isn't squeamish to ask Hersch about "the proposition that his sensitivity makes his music 'gay.'"

"I wouldn't quite say that's bull, but it's a very dangerous idea," Hersch said, slowing his gait. "The compliment I get the most often is, 'My, you sounded really beautiful.' I used to think, I want them to say something else, because I felt like that was a kind of, Oh, yeah, you're gay — so of course you play lyrically and you're one of the great ballad players. Of course. But now I just don't care at all what people think. I think music should be beautiful. There's nothing wrong with beauty. I'm attracted to beauty and lyricism, but I don't play the way I do because I'm gay. I play the way I do because I'm Fred."

There's a very familiar story at the heart of the (occasionally hyperbolic) praise here: This Jazz Musician Is Great Because He Always Does It His Own Way. (As an aside, I sometimes think staunch individualism is over-valorized, even in jazz: great works often happen because musicians, or really any artists, are inspired by the so-called "fashions" of their peers, or the prevailing social zeitgeist.) 'Sall good, because the cat really is a heavy cat. And any feature-length Times Magazine stories about jazz artists of Fred Hersch's depth are cool by me.

Related At NPR Music: Lara Pellegrinelli profiled Hersch last summer for All Things Considered. We recorded his trio live at the Village Vanguard. Kevin Whitehead spins the Pocket Orchestra live album, and likes it.