Horn o’ plenty: Herb Alpert putting new spins on classic tunes for CD, tour

By Diana Nollen

Herb Alpert doesn't live in the past when it comes to his own music. But his first CD collaboration with his wife, Lani Hall, puts a Latin spin on some fascinating rhythms from the Great American Songbook.

Cole Porter's bouncy “Anything Goes” takes on a dreamy feel with Hall's sultry vocals wrapped around a languid tempo, while Alpert's crisp, clean trumpet gleams with an up-tempo, jazzy version of the 1933 tune, “It's Only a Paper Moon.”

The audience can expect to hear such unexpected delights when the one-time leader of the Tijuana Brass band and the former voice of Brasil 66 bring their smooth new moves to the Riverside Casino Event Center. The duo will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday in a concert presented by Hancher Auditorium.

Alpert and his wife of nearly 36 years are touring with a jazz trio of bass, piano and drums, rather than the big brass sound that rocketed the trumpeter to fame in the '60s and beyond.

“We took American standards, and one of the reasons we wanted to perform them, is that we found a unique way of doing each song so they won't sound like the same songs done the same way by a thousand artists,” Alpert, 74, of Malibu, says by phone from a recent tour stop in New York City. “It's a challenge for us. Plus, we're playing Brazilian music. There's no Tijuana Brass - strictly the present and hopefully, the future.”

Using an instrumental trio on tour allows the music to be “very transparent,” Alpert says. “It's very jazz oriented, mostly improv. My wife establishes the songs and what's happening behind her is very spontaneous.”

Alpert says he's surprised by the range of ages he sees in his audiences these days.

“It's the gamut,” he says. “I'm amazed to see young and old. A lot of the people are not familiar with the CD yet - they're going on my reputation or my wife's. One of the reasons I was reluctant to consider doing concerts is that I didn't want to revisit the past. I wanted to play small clubs and have intimate settings.”

What he feared hasn't happened. The fans haven't seemed disappointed to not hear “Taste of Honey” or “Tijuana Taxi.”

“The audiences have been satisfied with the music we've presented, and that's very gratifying for us,” he says.

He's enjoying being on the concert trail, as well.

“I get energy from it,” he says. “After I finish a concert, I feel energized. It gives me a boost. I started playing trumpet at 8, so it's just a part of me. I love to play. I'm a creative soul. I've been painting and sculpting for 40 years. I spend most of my days on the right side of my brain.”

He paints with acrylics in an abstract expressionist style and will have a “huge show” of 18-foot bronze totem sculptures at the Ace Gallery in Beverly Hills in February. “It's a really exciting exhibit,” he says.

He grew up in Los Angeles, surrounded by music at home. His mother played violin, his father played mandolin by ear, his sister played piano and his brother became a professional drummer, playing a few “casual gigs” with Alpert.

The young trumpeter strode casually onto his career path, as well.

“When I was drafted, they sent me to band school at Fort Knox,” he says. “I was a young, hotshot trumpet player in Los Angeles at weddings and parties. When I got to band school, 14 other trumpet players all seemed to be better than me. That was eye- and ear-opening for me.”

He decided he'd have to come up with his own style to make it on his own.

“Others were trying to play like the greats, so I started pursuing my own way of playing,” he says. When I got out of the Army, I hooked up with Lou Adler and starting writing. I heard Sam Cooke record; we became friends and wrote ‘Wonderful World.' ... Watching him record, I started realizing I could incorporate trumpet into producing. Little by little, with a genesis of listening to Les Paul and layering guitar, I started doing that at home with my trumpet. That was the start of the Tijuana Brass.”

Nearly 50 years later, Alpert still plays his trumpet every day to keep his lip in shape.

“It would be hard to put it away for a couple of days and expect to be right back where you were,” he says. “I wake up thinking of what to try on the trumpet. I never get to the place where I'm satisfied. That's the fun of it.”

FAST TAKEInformation: www.hancher.uiowa.edu/events/alpert.html or www.herbalpert.com

What: Hancher presents Herb Alpert and Lani Hall in concert

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13

Where: Riverside Casino & Golf Resort Event Center, 3184 Highway 22, Riverside

Tickets: (319) 335-1160 or 1-(800) HANCHER and www.hancher.uiowa.edu/tickets.html