The Battle

Eric Alexander & Vincent Herring

20 years after they first went head-to-head on stage in 2005,saxophone heavy-hitters Eric Alexander and Vincent Herring square off once again for a long anticipated

rematch. Due out August 22, 2025, via SMOKE Sessions Records, the ferocious swing and

robust melodicism of Split Decision is the third in a trilogy of blistering summit concerts captured in

front of a live audience on stage at SMOKE Jazz Club.

While the 2005 “The Battle” concert series evoked the antagonistic tradition of cutting contests and

sax duels, Alexander and Herring’s second meeting, “Friendly Fire” in 2011, suggested that its heated

exchanges were at least on amiable terms. The latter was recorded and subsequently released on

HighNote Records in 2012. With the third match-up “Split Decision” in July 2024, the pair has reached

a musical détente, two masters meeting on equal terms, with “victory” merely a question of personal

taste rather than virtuosic one-upmanship.

“When you get to the level that Vincent and the musicians we’re playing with are at,” Alexander says,

“assessing their worth compared to one another is absolutely subjective. When I play next to Vincent,

I know I have to mind my Ps and Qs because if you start misfiring, you’re going to get overrun. For some

musicians, that’s very intimidating. Personally, I just try to keep the bar high, and when you play with

somebody like Vincent, the bar is way up there.”

“We have great rapport with each other,” Herring adds. “Eric is an amazing virtuoso and a master of

melody. He’s very humble, but he is an exceptional musician, without a doubt. Playing with him is

always inspirational for me.”

There’s also ample inspiration to be had when you’re working with the caliber of rhythm section that

Alexander and Herring enlisted for these dates. Pianist Mike LeDonne and bassist John Webber reprise

their roles from the two previous recordings captured at SMOKE. (One other Alexander/Herring

recording, In the Spirit of Coltrane and Cannonball (2012), was recorded on a European tour featuring

a different quintet that included Alexander’s mentor, the late Harold Mabern.) This time around,

they’re joined by the legendary Lewis Nash on drums.

“I enjoy hearing each guy in the band as much as I enjoy playing myself,” Herring enthuses. “On any

given night, on any given tune, Mike could blow us both away. He’s a tremendous musician. John

Webber is an incredibly underrated player, and Lewis Nash is known as the top of the heap.”

Less than five years separate the two saxophonists, but Herring was already an established name in

NYC jazz when Alexander arrived on the scene in 1991, having worked with such legends as Nat

Adderley, Freddie Hubbard, Cedar Walton, and Horace Silver. “I’ve been an admirer of Eric’s ever since

I first heard him play,” Herring says. “The way he plays is stylistically and philosophically similar to how

I hear music.”

Fresh from the 1991 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition, where he’d placed

second to Joshua Redman, Alexander was fast being recognized as one of the leading tenor voices of

his generation, embarking on collaborations with Mabern, Charles Earland, and Cecil Payne, and forging

formative relationships with peers such as Joe Farnsworth, Steve Davis, David Hazeltine, and the late

Jim Rotondi.

The two first shared the stage in 1997 when Herring called Alexander for a tour of Japan with a band

dubbed The Young Lions, which featured an all-star sax frontline with Bob Berg and Donald Harrison,

with the rhythm section of pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Richie Goods, and drummer Ali Jackson.

Discovering the intense chemistry generated by the pairing of Herring’s alto with Alexander’s tenor, the

two quickly decided to match wits for a recording. The locale was a no-brainer – both men have

considered SMOKE Jazz Club one of their home bases over the years, with Alexander enjoying a history

with the club that dates back to its earlier incarnadon as Augie’s and now stretches through three

decades and two major renovadons.

“It started out as a college dive bar and now it’s a real desdnadon club,” Alexander marvels. Herring

echoes the sendment: “It went from the lifle engine that could to a significant player in the business.

SMOKE Jazz Club is one of the best places you can play in New York City – or in the world.”

Beyond the sendmental associadons, Alexander asserts that the sonic environment is ideal for a live

recording. “The sound that they get live in the room is head-and-shoulders above almost any club I’ve

ever played. They’re really able to capture an excellent live recording just through the setup in the

room.”

Split Decision is a testament to that fact, delivering the vitality and excitement of being there when

these sax giants face off. The six-song setlist also puts the whole band’s esdmable giis in the best

possible spotlight, stacked with memorable but not over-familiar tunes. The album kicks off with

“Pharoah’s Dance,” trombonist Steve Turre’s homage to Pharoah Sanders and McCoy Tyner, originally

recorded on his 2022 SMOKE Sessions Records release Genera8ons.

Both “Strollin’” and the closing “Mo’s Theme” come from the songbooks of Herring’s former employers,

Horace Silver and Nat Adderley, respecdvely – the lafer penned by pianist Rob Bargad, whom the altoist

discovered and enlisted for Adderley’s band. “A Peck a Sec” and “Soi Impressions” were both wrifen

by another mutual favorite, Hank Mobley, while “My Romance” is the vehicle for some of the set’s most

vividly gorgeous playing.

Anydme two powerhouse saxophonists step on stage at the same dme, comparisons become

inevitable. With Split Decision, Eric Alexander and Vincent Herring concede the judgment at the outset,

content to channel that compeddve spirit – not to mendon two decades of friendship and collaboradon

– into scindlladng music of championship caliber. Listening to the results, everybody wins.