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Vincent Herring

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Vincent Herring
Herring at Birdland, New York City
Herring at Birdland, New York City
Background information
Born
Vincent Dwyne Herring

(1964-11-19) November 19, 1964 (age 61)
Hopkinsville, Kentucky, U.S.
GenresJazz
OccupationsMusician, educator
InstrumentsSaxophone, flute
Years active1982–present
LabelsLandmark, MusicMasters, HighNote, Smoke Sessions
WebsiteVincentHerring.com
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch United States Army
Service years1980–1982
UnitUSMA Band

Vincent Dwyne Herring (born November 19, 1964)[1] is an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, composer, and educator. Known for his fiery and soulful playing in the bands of Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, and Nat Adderley in the earlier stages of his career, he now frequently performs around the world with his own groups and is heavily involved in jazz education.[2]

Biography

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He was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, United States.[1] His parents divorced, and he and his mother moved to California.[3] When he was 11, he started playing saxophone in school bands and studying privately at Dean Frederick's School of Music in Vallejo, California. At age 16, he entered California State University, Chico on a music scholarship.

A year later, Herring auditioned for the United States Military Academy band, Jazz Knights, playing lead alto sax. He moved to West Point and served one enlisted tour. In 1982 he moved to New York City attending Long Island University.

Herring first toured the United States and Europe as part of the Lionel Hampton Big Band.[1] His talents came to the attention of Nat Adderley,[1] and the two forged a nine-year musical relationship that led to nine albums and touring around the world year after year.[4] After Adderley's death, Herring collaborated with former Cannonball Adderley bandmember Louis Hayes to form the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band.[1] He also worked and recorded with pianist Cedar Walton for over two decades.[1] He has also appeared on stage or recordings with Dizzy Gillespie,[5] Horace Silver, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition, Freddie Hubbard, James Carter, Larry Coryell, Steve Turre, the Mingus Big Band, Billy Taylor, Nancy Wilson, Kenny Barron, Roy Hargrove, Arthur Taylor, Carla Bley, Mike LeDonne, Eric Alexander, Wallace Roney, Carl Allen, Bobby Watson, Gary Bartz, Sonny Fortune, Cyrus Chestnut, Jeremy Pelt, Joe Farnsworth, and the Phil Woods Sax Machine[1] (a band augmenting Woods' regular quintet to an octet with three additional alto saxophonists). Herring has appeared as a special guest soloist with Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center as well as with Jon Faddis and The Carnegie Hall Big Band.

Herring has recorded over 20 albums as a leader and over 250 as a sideman. In addition to the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band, Herring's other projects include Something Else, The Battle with Vincent Herring and Eric Alexander, The Vincent Herring-Joris Dudli's Soul Jazz Alliance, Earth Jazz Agents, and Jazz The Story.

Herring has taken bands to Japan, Europe, and China on several occasions and has appeared in nearly every major jazz festival in the world. He is also involved in jazz education as a professor at William Paterson University and Manhattan School of Music. In 2024, Herring published his jazz improvisation method book, Logic and Critical Thinking in Jazz Improvisation, with Sher Music, which focuses on distilling his original improvisation concepts and techniques.

Discography

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Vincent Herring performing with the Nat Adderley Quintet, 1993

As leader/co-leader

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As a member

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Carl Allen & Manhattan Projects

  • The Dark Side of Dewey (Alfa Jazz, 1992)
  • Echoes of Our Heroes (Alfa Jazz, 1993)
  • We Remember Cannonball (Alfa Jazz, 1997)

Alto Summit
With Antonio Hart, Phil Woods, Ruben Rogers, Carl Allen and Anthony Wonsey

  • Alto Legacy (Key'stone, 1995)

Mingus Big Band

  • ¡Que Viva Mingus (Dreyfus, 1997)
  • Blues & Politics (Dreyfus, 1999)
  • Three of Four Shades of Love (Dreyfus, 2002)
  • Tonight at Noon (Dreyfus, 2002)

The Heavy Hitters
With Eric Alexander and Mike LeDonne

  • Heavy Hitters (Cellar Music, 2023) – rec. 2022
  • That's What's Up! (Cellar Music, 2024) – rec. 2023

As sideman

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With Nat Adderley

With Carl Allen

With Don Braden

  • The Voice of the Saxophone (BMG, 1997)
  • Contemporary Standards Ensemble (Double-Time, 2000)

With Good Fellas

  • Good Fellas (Paddle Wheel, 1992)
  • 2 (Paddle Wheel, 1992)
  • 3 (Paddle Wheel, 1993)

With John Hicks

With Freddie Hubbard

With Harold Mabern

With Barney McAll

  • Exit (ABC Jazz, 1995)
  • Blueprints (Jazzhead, 2011)

With Ferit Odman

  • Nommo (Equinox, 2010)
  • Autumn in New/York (Equinox, 2011)

With Cedar Walton

With others

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 1140. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  2. ^ AllMusic biography
  3. ^ Kennedy, Gary (2002). Kernfeld, Barry (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc. p. 229. ISBN 1-56159-284-6.
  4. ^ "Bio". Vincentherring.com. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  5. ^ Vincent Herring Interview. by Alex Henderson, The New York City Jazz Record, (August 2017), pages 6 & 38 - retrieved August 2017
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