Dancing in the Dark (1993)

With the ''new Coltrane'' here and the ''new Ellington'' there, it's hard for an original voice in jazz to get a note in edgewise. Quirkily lyrical pianist Fred Hersch is not only something new among neos, he has nerve: After a series of gorgeous albums of original explorations, he has applied his adventurism to the standard repertoire, transforming seeming inconsequences like ''Bye Bye Blackbird'' and ''My Funny Valentine'' into intimate messages of exquisite fragility. The Fred Hersch Trio's Dancing in the Dark gets an A.