Top 10 Albums of 2006.- Geoff Chapman - Toronto Star

Top 5 debut albums of 2006 and Reccommended Release,December Issue - All About Jazz New York

Top 20 Albums of the Year - Irwin Block - Montreal Gazette - "The debut CD by big-sounding, Toronto-based bassist Michael Herring and sextet is impressive as he shapes the architecture for a trio of improvising horns."

Top Picks for 2006 - Maurice Hogue, One Man's Jazz - CKUW 95.9
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SIGNAL to NOISE #45 - Spring 2007- Jay Collins

Michael Bates’ Outside Sources - A Fine Balance - Between the Lines 71211 CD
Michael Herring’s Vertigo - Coniferous Revenge - Michael Herring 65250 CD

These two releases led by Canadian-bred bassists Michael Bates and Michael Herring, show two up-and-coming artists with a penchant for quirky ideas... (Bates portion of the interview here)
Saxophonist David Binney has been a busy guy over the last several years and he’s increasingly taken on the role as a producer and mentor to quite a few younger players. Recent records (including those with Slovenian guitarists Samo Salmonen’s group and his production work on Donny McCaslin’s Soar) demonstrate his commitment to encouraging budding talents. Binney also plays a significant role on Michael Herring’s debut, Coniferous Revenge, adding passionate solos over Herring’s idiosyncratic compositional frameworks influenced by writers like Wayne Shorter and Dave Holland. Herring’s eleven compositions are forthright, well-organized ventures with tight horn arrangements, ensemble colors and rhythmic buoyancy. As for his sextet Vertigo these Toronto-based players again includes Nachoff plus trombonist William Carn, guitarist Don Scott and drummer Jesse Baird. Binney is dynamic throughout, but is particularly noteworthy on “S-ow-ss,” soaring over the spry ensemble vamp, rocks with Baird on “Clancy’s New Belt Free Home,” rouses on the tricky “Monkey” and takes the bait on the restlessness of the title track. While Nachoff and Binney take the majority of the solo space and constantly weave their lines against on another, it is when the horns tangle is where there is the most fun, such as on the intense swing romp of “Shouting At Squirrels,” aided by the cascading undercurrent kicked up by Herring and Baird. It’s mostly Binney’s show, with the others filling out the edges, both Carn and Scott have worthy moments. Carn is show-cased on “Monkey” and the boisterous groove of “Urn,” while Scott does a fine job on “Clancy’s New Belt Free Home.” Herring manages to make his way up front on several pieces, with tuneful pizzicato work on “S-ow-ss” and gorgeous tenderness on the ballad, “First Mentor.” The concluding piece, “Couldn’t Make It Through/My Songbird” is worth special mention. Conmmencing as a tender ballad with the horns wrapping themselves around Hering’s five-note vamp, the airy shadings inspire Binney’s luscious tones and then, pow, the ensemble gets crickety before returning to the concluding section, Jesse Winchester’s mellifluous lullaby, “My Songbird” with Nachoff’s gorgeous clarinet humming through. An exciting debut that like bates’, demonstrates that the future is in good hands, full of excellent instrumentalists with their own ideas of how to accomplish their goals.
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Michael Herring's Vertigo - Coniferous Revenge (Indie) ***1/2 - Geoff Chapman - Toronto Star

Canadian bassist Herring's album, released this month at The Rex, is one of the most exciting and interesting to arrive this year. Herring spent 2004 in New York, where he recruited one of New York's rising stars, saxman David Binney. The disc's 11 tracks challenge the musicians with their fiendish complexities, tricky rhythmic devices and relentless shape-shifting, with Binney getting the lion's share of soloing. Yet there's equally imaginative contributions from a posse of stylish young Torontonians — saxophonist Quinsin Nachoff, trombonist William Carn, guitarist Don Scott and drummer Jesse Baird. The ensemble passages are all rich in texture, catchy hooks relieve the aura of intellectual rigour, the boss's bass soars and swoops and the overall impact is tremendous, especially in the opening surging "S-ow-ss, "Monkey," the spacy title-piece and freewheeling "Um."
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JAZZ - Coniferous Revenge - Michael Herring's Vertigo ***1/2 - J.D. Considine, The Globe and Mail

Between the unusual instrumental colours, carefully composed rhythmic structures and catchy-but-offbeat melodies, the sound Herring gets from his largely Toronto-based ensemble is likely to remind casual listeners of Dave Holland's recent work. Not because both Holland and Herring are bassists, but because they share a similar approach to composition, and lead equally singular ensembles. Although the album tends to spotlight the raucous, discursive alto sax of New Yorker Dave Binney, everyone gets a chance to shine, with particularly strong contributions from trombonist William Carn (on Monkey) and guitarist Don Scott (on the title tune). A spectacular debut.
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Michael Herring's Vertigo featuring David Binney **** - Joseph Blake, The Times-Colonist

Only a few years removed from Esquimalt High's excellent jazz program, Toronto-based double bassist Michael Herring has established himself as one of the most creative musicians on the Canadian scene.
On Coniferous Revenge, his band featuring New York-based alto saxophonist David Binney produces a modern mix of jazz tradition and adventurous experimentation.
Herring's 11 richly textured originals have a supple, athletic grace stretched in always-surprising directions by Binney, tenor saxophonist Quinsin Nachoff, guitarist Don Scott, and trombonist William Carn, while Herring and drummer Jesse Baird carve a deep, shifting groove through the cord changes.
Echos of classic Blue Note Record's 60's bop merge with the new century's harder edged collective dissonance in a juicy sound that Herring and company cap with a lyrical reshaping of Jesse Winchester's My Songbird. A triumph!
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Downbeat - Jazz - John Ephland - Young Guns - November 2006

Michael Herring’s Vertigo dishes out Coniferous Revenge (Michael Herring 65250; 68:02) ***, on which the bass leader gives next-to-top billing to alto saxophonist David Binney on this smartly arranged set of 11 originals for sextet. The styles emanate from vamps and ositinatos, structures that give the players much leeway. “S-ow-ss” has a stop-on-a-dime finess that allows Binney room to drop the mood from earnest to calm as he closes, and “…but I don’t have the time” has a light touch and feathery punch that mask the ever-present odd time signatures.
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congrats on a great disc... quite an auspicious debut. - Laurence Donohue-Greene (Managing Editor - AllAboutJazz - New York)
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Fantastic writing and playing all the way around. The music is free and clear and the band is really letting loose. David Binney sounds great, but the whole band is more than equally balanced ( if one can be more than equally balanced) and I am thoroughly enjoying this modern, accessible, engaging music!!!! Love it!!! - Paul Read (Director of Graduate Jazz Studies, University of Toronto)
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Coniferous Revenge on Radio Charts:

!earshot charts (national campus and community radio report) - April 2007 top 20 jazz
CIUT 89.5 Toronto - 3rd Overall Chart
CJSW 90.9 Calgary - 2nd Jazz Chart
CJSR 88.5 Edmonton - 3rd Jazz Chart
CKUT 90.3 Montreal - 6th Jazz Chart
CHLY FM 101.7 Nanaimo - 9th "Another Canadian bassist leading another hip band. Good tunes, and a cool front line (alto, bass clar, & trombone), and some passionate playing from all."
CFBX 92.5 Kamloops BC - 8th Jazz Chart
CJSF 90.1 Vancouver - 4th Overall Chart
CHRW 94.9 London - 2nd Jazz Chart
CKXU 88.3 Lethbridge - 7th Jazz Chart
CFBU 103.7 St. Catharines - 11th Top 30 (overall)
CHUO 89.1 Ottawa - 10th Jazz Chart