Eric Alexander & Vincent Herring - Split Decision

Jazz

New York’s Bebop Scene Delivers a Masterclass in Tradition with a Dazzling Saxophone Duo.

The ever-vibrant New York bebop scene gifts us, once again, a gem: a masterful saxophone duo, flanked by a dream team of seasoned musicians whose names have long been synonymous with jazz excellence. This is no ordinary release, it’s a high-caliber classic, shaped by intricate, expertly crafted arrangements that breathe new life into the works of Horace Silver, Steve Turre, Hank Mobley, and more.

At the heart of the album is saxophonist Vincent Herring, a veritable chapter in jazz history. His résumé reads like a who’s who of the genre: Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Hayes, Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver Quintet, Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition, Larry Coryell, The Mingus Big Band (with whom he won a Grammy in 2010), and many others. He’s graced stages with Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center and played with Jon Faddis and The Carnegie Hall Big Band. Herring’s sound is steeped in tradition, yet always commands the present moment.

His counterpart, Eric Alexander, is equally distinguished. A product of the South Side of Chicago, Alexander made his debut in 1991 with Charles Earland on Muse Records and released his first album as a leader the following year on Delmark. From the muscular Man with a Horn (1997) to his collaborative quartet sessions alongside George Mraz, John Hicks, and Idris Muhammad, and the foundational recordings with his long-standing ensemble One For All, Alexander has built a reputation on power, precision, and a deep reverence for the hard bop idiom.

This latest release, then, feels less like a statement and more like a culmination, a distillation of decades spent absorbing, interpreting, and refining the language of jazz. The result is an album that wears its purpose proudly: this is music for purists. There are no disruptive innovations here, no genre-bending detours. Every note is in its place, every phrase executed with technical finesse and deep musical empathy.

Depending on your perspective, that may be either the album’s defining strength or its sole limitation. For those with a modernist bent, the lack of surprises might feel overly safe. But for those who find comfort in form, in the eloquence of straight-ahead swing and the familiar elegance of the bop tradition, this is a record to savor.

And once you see the full roster of musicians contributing to this project, a list studded with jazz royalty — you’ll likely want to do exactly that.

Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News

PARIS-MOVE, August 7th 2025

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