Saxophonist Vincent Herring‘s intense, soulful, multi-noted style and ebullient swing have excited audiences worldwide. On stage, Herring and his band often make an incendiary sound over fine and controlled rhythms of modern times. Vincent started
playing saxophone at the age of 11 in school bands and studying privately at Dean Frederick’s School of Music in Vallejo, CA. At the age of 16, Herring was studying at California State University at Chico on a music scholarship. A year later he had won
a berth in the United States Military Academy Band at West Point.

Vincent moved to New York City in early 1980’s attending Long Island University. He first toured in the United States and Europe as part of the Lionel Hampton Big Band. With his sound strongly influenced by Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, Vincent’s virtuosity and promise came to the attention of Nat Adderley. The two forged a nine-year musical relationship, producing nine albums and touring around the world year after year. After Nat’s death, Louis Hayes collaborated with Vincent to form the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band. Vincent worked and recorded with Cedar Walton for more than 20 years.

He has also appeared on stage and or recordings with Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Hayes, Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver Quintet, Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition, Larry Coryell, Steve Turre, The Mingus Big Band (Won a Grammy in 2010), Kenny Barron, Nancy Wilson, Dr. Billy Taylor, Carla Bley, Mike LeDonne, Carl Allen, Ron McClure, and John Hicks among others. His extensive guest soloist appearances include performances with Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center and Jon Faddis and The Carnegie Hall Big Band.

Vincent’s discography reveals over 20 titles as a leader and over 250 as a sideman. His current and past projects speak to the wide range of his musical interest and versatility: The Vincent Herring-Joris Dudli’s Soul Jazz Alliance, Earth Jazz Agents, Friendly Fire with Vincent Herring and Eric Alexander. Vincent leads a band called Jazz The Story with Jon Faddis, Jeremy Pelt, Steve Turre, James Carter, Eric Alexander, Mike LeDonne, Kenny Davis, Carl Allen and Nicolas Bearde.

Vincent tours frequently with his projects around the in the United States, Europe, Japan, China and around the world. Vincent continues to share his distinct voice and musical knowledge, as a performer and jazz educator. He is currently on staff at William Paterson University and at Manhattan School of Music. To view more detailed info on Vincent visit his website https://www.vincentherring.com

Joan Fort, born 1997, is a Spanish guitarist and composer from Catalan and now based in Amsterdam in Hollnd. He holds a Master’s degree in Jazz Guitar from the prestigious Conservatorium van Amsterdam and Temple University in Philadelphia. Throughout his career, Joan has had the privilege of performing and collaborating with renowned musicians such as Dick Oatts, Jeremy Pelt, Vincent Herring, Grant Stewart, Jorge Rossy, Bill McHenry, Benjamin Herman, Michael Weiss, Jasper Blom, Rita Payés, and Virginia MacDonald.

One of his co-led projects, The Dam Jawn, has released two critically acclaimed albums: Master St (2023) and Forward (2024), both featuring the legendary New York saxophonist Dick Oatts. The first album earned a nomination for the Edison Jazz Award. In 2024, Joan performed with The Dam Jawn at the North Sea Jazz Festival, joined by the renowned trumpeter Jeremy Pelt as a special guest.

In January 2025, Joan released his debut album as a leader, So Far, So Good, and is already preparing for his next project—a recording in New York City with a stellar lineup of world-class musicians: Grant Stewart on tenor sax, Michael Weiss on piano, David Wong on bass, and Aaron Kimmel on drums.

Joan has performed at prestigious festivals and venues worldwide, including the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland, Chris’ Jazz Café in America, Bimhuis in Holland, the Voll-Damm International Barcelona Jazz Festival and Windmills in India. To view more detailed info on Joan visit his website https://joanfort.com

Born in Stuttgart, Germany, Philip Lewin’s interest in music was sparked at an early age from being exposed to many different genres of music. At the age of 6 he started his musical journey on classical piano until the age of 12, when he switched to the guitar. As many other bassists, it was the curiosity for the low frequencies, but also the necessity for a bass player in a jazz band that made him switch to the bass guitar and then soon after to the double bass.

After falling in love with the instrument and gaining first professional experiences, he decided to pursue a career in music, which led him to study at the Hochschule für Musik Nuremberg, Germany before transferring to CODARTS Rotterdam and finally to the Conservatorium van Amsterdam to pursue his master’s degree. He took private lessons from internationally renown bassists Joe Martin, Orlando le Fleming and Or Bareket during stays in New York.

In 2022, he took part in an exchange programme at the renown Temple University in Philadelphia, where he studied with bassist David Wong, as well as great artists such as Dick Oatts, Joe Magnarelli and Tim Warfield. Now based and active in Amsterdam, he has performed at festivals such as North Sea Jazz, Grachtenfestival Amsterdam and venues such as the Bimhuis, Chris’ Jazzcafe Philadelphia, Jazzstudio Nürnberg and BIX Stuttgart.

Philip is part of numerous projects, such as the Ben Fitzpatrick & Johan Hörlen Quintet; Joan Fort Trio; Dima Loginov’s 5/7 Elements and the co-led Band “The Dam Jawn”. Recent highlights were the release of The Dam Jawn’s debut Album “Forward!” (Cellar Music, 2024) with special guest Dick Oatts as well as a performance at North Sea Jazz Festival 2024 with reknown trumpeter Jeremy Pelt. To view more detailed info on Philip visit his website https://www.philiplewinbass.com

David Puime joined the conservatory of Vigo in Spain to study classical music, in the speciality of percussion. He finished his professional studies winning the Honor Prize of the conservatory. At the same time, he was starting his career as a jazz drummer, playing as a sideman with some local musicians as Paco Charlín, Virxilio da Silva or Yago Vázquez in festivals such as ImaxinaSons, Pontejazz or Canjazz, among others. Later on, he moved to The Netherlands where he studied his bachelor degree in jazz music at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, having lessons with the Dutch drummer Eric Ineke. He finished his studies at the conservatory with an Honor mention and with an Honorific Prize for the most inspirational contribution to the jazz community of the Royal Conservatory. He then continued his master studies at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

During the master’s degree, David moved to the United States of America, and he studied at the Temple University where he followed lessons with worldwide jazz musicians such as Justin Faulkner, Tim Warfield or David Wong, among many others. In his time in the USA, he also received lessons from other jazz legends such as Reggie Workman and Buster Williams. After this, he came back to Amsterdam where he finished his master studies.

In his musical career, David has performed with artists such as Phillip Harper, John Marshall, Vincent Herring, Harry Allen, Bill McHenry, Gilad Hekselman, Steve Cardenas, Gerald Clayton, Benjamin Herman, Ben van Gelder, Simon Rigter or Jasper Blom, among others. He has performed in jazz festivals around the world, such as the North Sea Jazz Festival, Festival Jazz Plaza de Cuba, Festival de jazz de Canarias, Amersfoort World Jazz Festival, Ngayogjazz festival of Yogyakarta, among others.