Sunday, January 24, 2010
Herb Alpert & Lani Hall: 1.24.09
This was a surprisingly fine evening of music. Herb Alpert sold 72 million Tijuana Brass records and ran one of the most successful independent record labels in history Now he has resurfaced in the public eye with his wife Lani Hall (the signature and siren voice of Sergio Brasil 66) with a show of American standards and Brazilian music accompanied by a really able jazz trio of Bill Cantos, Hussain Jiffry and Michael Shapiro.
The right crowd and the right vibe at the Aladdin Theater can be a heckuva love fest. And the Herb and Lani show was certainly one of those evenings. It appeared to be close to a sell out filled with lots of baby boomers and the generation that spawned them. For certain, it was a room of very appreciative folks.
At 74, Alpert still has that singular voice on the trumpet. When he responded to journalist Tony Sachs remark that he doesn't sound like anyone else, Herb replied: "That's what Miles [Davis] said - he said, "You hear three notes and you know it's Herb Alpert," which is quite a compliment. I think I have my own language and way of approaching it." Here's Sachs review from a show last Spring
The quality of the arrangements of the standards and their execution was enough to make you forget exactly who was playing but we were reminded when Herb ended his first vocal feature of My Fair Lady's I've Grown Accustomed To Your Face with a quote from "This Guy's In Love With You." I turned into a black church lady at that point as did most of the crowd. "Hey, More of that!" And for the next few minutes he delivered with the 70s hit Rise and a truncated mash up medley of TJB favorites like Lonely Bull, Spanish Flea, Taste of Honey and so forth. That room got real bouncy and happy in a flash. As it did later when Lani did Night and Day. I would have loved a Look of Love too, but have no complaints for that evening at all.
I grew up with Herb and TJB. My folks played the heck out of their Tijuana Brass Vol. 2 album. I remember my Dad putting it on whenever we had tacos for dinner. I pretty clearly recall their Singer sewing machine sponsored specials including the one where Herb introduced This Guy's In Love With You (he sings! but most importantly with a normal person's singing voice) Many of the Herb Alpert albums still stand as great records worth revisiting. In 2005, Shout Factory reissued the whole catalog (available at emusic) as well as a collection of rarities.
But the live album, Anything Goes, recorded during earlier stages of their current project is pretty fine too. Their version of Besame Mucho is even nominated for a Grammy. One gets the sense that Herb and Lani are doing this because they truly want to.
A lot of the other folks and myself had a reaction during the evening a bit like Nelson did on the Simpsons when Bart and friends went to Branson and saw Andy Williams. Boomer bliss, I guess, of an earlier time when the music industry, media, and radio are far less complex than they are now, but at the same time, a fine evening of music that stands on its own.
posted by well-executed buffet at 11:59 PM
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