Legendary American trumpeter Herb Alpert, 88, no longer has anything to prove. He’s done it all. A musician who defined the Sixties sound through his band, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, his passion for music is not bound by age.
Through the decades he recorded 28 albums. That translates to 14 platinum albums and 15 gold albums. That’s not too shabby for a guy he describes himself as “a right-brained introvert.”
“My music is upbeat, positive and that’s the way I like it,” said Alpert who tours with wife Lani Hall, former lead vocalist for Sergio Mendes' Brasil ‘66. The duo are touring North America and will stop at Arden Theatre on Monday, April 10.
“We’ll be promoting past retrospectives from Tijuana Brass and Lani will sing a medley from Brazil ‘66," Alpert said. "Every night I choose to play differently. Every night I like to play in that moment of my life. When I’m in a concert situation, I love that feeling. I’m right where I should be.”
Born in Los Angeles to Ukrainian immigrants, Alpert blew his first trumpet at age eight, while a student at Melrose Elementary School. He was encouraged by his father Louis, a tailor who played mandolin, and his mother, Tillie, who taught violin.
By the late Fifties, Alpert formed a songwriting team with famed lyricist Lou Adler. The duo landed a job a job at Los Angeles based Keen Records whose star artist Sam Cooke topped the charts with You Send Me. The songwriting duo wrote Wonderful World for Cooke and it became the singer’s most popular tune in the streaming era.
By the early Sixties, Alpert went down to Tijuana to catch a bullfight and was intrigued by the brass bands playing fanfares to open each event. Back home in L.A., he tried to recreate Tijuana’s sounds by layering his trumpet, so it sounded like a band.
The first tune he crafted was The Lonely Bull. His sound was fresh and exciting, and it debuted as a top 10 single of 1962. The success of Lonely Bull prompted Alpert to record albums. His first No. 1 album titled Whip Cream & Other Delights arrived in 1965 opening doors to all television networks.
Ed Sullivan caught wind of it and invited him to perform on his show. Alpert quickly pulled together a group of freelance session musicians to create a full band sound. The record was hot, Tijuana Brass was hot and invitations to perform worldwide flooded his agent.
By the end of the Sixties, Alpert had a personal crisis and disbanded The Tijuana Brass. The relentless pressure of touring, recording and a divorce left him unable to play. He described it as “stuttering through the instrument.”
He sought help from Carmine Caruso, a trumpet teacher and trouble shooter for musicians having difficulty playing.
“The big ah-ha moment came when he said, ‘son you are the instrument. The instrument is a megaphone. The sound you want is inside you – the emotions, not the lip or technique. But the feelings you stuff away.’ That’s how I came to identify the sound and find my own voice,” said Alpert.
Alpert founded A&M Records with partner Jerry Moss. Part of A&M’s client roster included Brasil ‘66 known for various top 10 hits including Más que nada, The Fool on the Hill and The Look of Love. As the band’s lead singer, Hall met Alpert at one of his house parties.
“We hit it off immediately. She was a great artist and an unusual person. She was totally honest, almost to a fault. After the party, she thanked me for inviting her. I asked if she had a good time. She said ‘not really.’ When I asked why, she said ‘that house doesn’t look anything like you,’ and that really stuck with me. I was basically her boss, yet she was direct about what she thought.”
In December 2023, the couple will have been married 50 years and their passion for each other comes through in music.
“I love doing what we do. I admire her as an artist, and she feels the same. People feel it. It’s not pretend. The music I make, I like. I’m not trying to make hit records. I make music that makes me feel good. That’s something I impart to other artists. And as long as I have the gift, I want to keep playing.”
The concert starts at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $89.50. Visit https://stalbert.ca/exp/arden/events/ or call 780-459-1542.
