Fred Hersch, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, was a rising star in the jazz world, when he nearly lost his life. In 2007, he suffered septic shock and doctors put him in an induced coma for two months. In Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In and Out of Jazz (Crown Archetype), Hersch tells wonderful stories, elucidates his musical views and writes compellingly about being a closeted gay man living with HIV/AIDS. The memoir by this musician, teacher and activist includes graphic descriptions of his near-death experience and grueling recovery. He returned to the piano, “but I was no Fred Hersch,” he writes. Fortunately for all of us, he is Fred Hersch again, and was recently nominated for two Grammys . — Mordecai Specktor
