Feebles, Fables and Ferns captures a rare one-time coming together of luminaries Mick Goodrick and Fred Hersch, both active in Boston at the time, recorded in Hersch’s studio in New York, August 1988. Looking back at the session in 2025, Hersch notes how “the highlight to me is just the level of ensemble playing. There was a lot of profound listening going on between the both of us.”

The expansive grasp of both musicians’ language and expressive abilities on their respective instruments is to the fore throughout this rich programme. Their intimate dialogues lay bare the qualities that have earned both men a reputation as influential mentors in improvisation. Previously known compositions by the pianist and the guitarist appear in concentrated guises here, with Goodrick’s album-title-lending “Feebles, Fables and Ferns” (recorded for his ECM date In Pas(s)ing ten years earlier) offering a focused glimpse at the playfully intertwined lines the two spin around each other on the spot.

Hersch’s “Heartsong”, one of the pianist’s arguably most harmonically engaging originals, is a lyrical highlight with the theme seamlessly passing back and forth between the two instruments. Joining the originals are inspired passes at two Steve Swallow compositions (“Falling Grace” & “Amazing”), Grant Green’s “Out Of Nowhere”, “Soul Eyes” by Mal Waldron as well as a suite of spontaneous improvisations following each other on “Five Excursions”.