The word “pyrography,” when translated literally from Greek, simply means “fire-writing.” The idea of burning language into wood, creating beauty and language with such control over the otherwise formidable force of flame, is an image that has stuck with Hecht as a prominent metaphor for creativity. In exploring this idea, Hecht notes that “jazz is ephemeral by nature, attuned to the moment, the air, the room, the particular meeting of people in a place,” and he asks, “what does it mean to write for such a medium?”

Beyond these levels of meaning, the album’s title, Pyrography, is a direct allusion to the poem of the same title by John Ashbery in which the poet seems to explore (in his usual ironic, abstract fashion) an overview of the history of continental America from a societal and geographic lens.

And not just the major events but the whole incredible Mass of everything happening simultaneously and pairing off, Channeling itself into history, will unroll As carefully and as casually as a conversation in the next room

In this section of the poem, Hecht found a mirror for the duality of composition and improvisation coexisting throughout jazz, and set to work “carefully and casually” to create Pyrography.