Acclaimed saxophonists Vincent Herring and Eric Alexander reunite for 'Split Decision'

On this episode of The Art of the Story, WBGO's Doug Doyle chats with saxophone greats Vincent Herring and Eric Alexander

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
I'm Doug Duyle with the Art of the Story. Acclaimed
saxophone is Vincent Herring and Eric Alexander have reunited for
their powerhouse third album, recorded live at Smoke Jazz Club,
featuring pianist Mike Ledon, bassist John Webber and drummer Lewis Nash.
Split Decision is out August twenty second on Smoke Sessions Records,

(00:27):
celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their first saxophone battle. Vincent
Herring is very excited about her latest release.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well, I'm grateful that has come out, and for the
fans of this recording of this band, I know if
they'll be happy with it. Also, another day I get
to play with my good friend Eric Alexander and Lewis
Nash and Mike Ladon and John Webber. You know, we're
playing at Smoke and that's one of the world's great

(00:59):
jazz clubs. Went from a little little tiny bar that
he didn't like to touch the table because it was sticky,
to like an incredible, i mean incredible jazz club. And
if you could have seen it what it was, you know,
thirty years ago and what it is now, it is
just amazing, you know, we're both involved in education and teaching,

(01:21):
and there's some things that you know, everybody can learn,
but he has some special abilities. And I knew as
the way Harold Mayburn used to speak about Eric all
the time, but it's true I speak about him like
that now. He's just amazing musician.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Eric Alexander stresses he asked to be at the top
of his game when playing with Vincent Herring.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
What I learned from Vincent is this, if you are prepared,
like Rocky Marciano all year for a fifteen round fight,
the best you can be prepared, then there's no guest
work at all. You're gonna go out there.

Speaker 4 (02:14):
You're going to hit a bar.

Speaker 5 (02:15):
You might not hit the bar you want every single night,
but you're going to hit a bar that's better than
anybody else because you're prepared. And Vincent is prepared. But
it's more than that. He's a naturally gifted and soulful musician.
But there are a lot of naturally gifted and soulful
musicians out there that suck because they don't train.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
Vincent trains. He keeps me up, is practicing next door me.
You know, every day he does.

Speaker 5 (02:40):
Vincent Herring cares very deeply about what he about music,
and he believes that it's.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Not even work.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
The labor quote unquote that he has to put in
to do a good job is a joy.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
There are also Split Decision album release shows through August
seventeenth at Smoke Jazz Club in New York City. You
can see my entire interview with Vincent Herring and Eric
Alexander on the WBGO YouTube channel. I'm Doug Doyle, WBGO
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