To say that altoist Vincent Herring sometimes evokes the spirit of Cannonball Adderley is to take nothing away from his own individuality-any more than recognizing a Charlie Parker influence diminishes one’s respect for Sonny Stitt. Far from being anybody’s clone, Herring has developed a personal style out of various sources, including, it seems to these ears, Jackie McLean. But mentioning those two giants of the alto does suggest the idiom in which he works. And sure enough, Herring’s latest album, All Too Real (HighNote), once again demonstrates his firm command of the hard-bop language. With an excellent rhythm section of pianist Anthony Wonsey, bassist Richie Goods and drummer E. J. Strickland, and the assistance on three tracks of the bright young trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, Herring offers a stimulating program that includes some hard-bop-style up-tunes, a gentle waltz and an uptempo Latin number. Highlights include a masterful romp on “Love for Sale,” a tune that Adderley made his own early on. A change of pace is afforded by vocalist Jill Seifers’ lovely and affecting rendition of Herring’s own “I’ll Sing You a Lullaby,” which also highlights the leader’s meditative soprano.
Originally PublishedRelated Posts
Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Backwater Blues
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading

Jonathan Butler: The Simple Life
Jonathan Butler’s optimistic music belies a dirt-poor childhood growing up in a South Africa segregated by apartheid. Live in South Africa, a new CD and DVD package, presents a sense of the resulting inner turmoil, mixed with dogged resolve, that paved the way to his status as an icon in his country and successful musician outside of it. Looking back, the 46-year-old Butler says today, the driving forces that led to his overcoming apartheid-the formal policy of racial separation and economic discrimination finally dismantled in 1993-were family, faith and abundant talent.
“When we were kids, our parents never talked about the ANC [African National Congress] or Nelson Mandela,” he says. Butler was raised as the youngest child in a large family. They lived in a house patched together by corrugated tin and cardboard, in the “coloreds only” township of Athlone near Cape Town. “They never talked about struggles so we never knew what was happening.”
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading

Scott LaFaro
Previously unavailable recordings and a new bio illuminate the legend of bassist Scott LaFaro
Kurt Elling: Man in the Air
Nate Chinen makes the argument that Kurt Elling is the most influential jazz vocalist of our time