On this edition of INTERVUE, I interviewed a music legend. He’s responsible for the smooth jazz classic staple “Rise” and one of my personal favorites “This Guy’s in Love with You”. He co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss in the 1960’s, which produced one of the biggest selling albums of all-time, Carole King’s “Tapestry”. If you’re a music fan, you’re in for a treat as today I am talking to the one, the only Herb Alpert.
How are you today?
Wow, after that introduction… you may to give me a little time to relax here.
Sure, I’ll give you all the time you need.
No, I am fine. Off to a good start today. I’ve already painted. Practiced the horn for a little while. We have a big concert coming up before we hit Annapolis. We’re playing the symphony orchestra next week (referring to the Pacific Symphony in Costa Mesa, California). Trying to get in shape for that and make sure I play in tune because when you’re playing with seventy-two pieces that are loud and in tune. (laughs)
There are so many questions that I want to ask you. You have been in the business for sixty years. You just recently turned 80 and you’re still performing.
Yeah, I probably sound amazing but you know, I do it because it gives me energy. I like to play. We have a great band and been playing together for the last nine years. We have a good time on the road and on stage. We’re making some really good music and I feel like I have been blessed. I had this opportunity to make hit records. I know there are a lot of people who like my music. I feel like that I have to give back and I do that with love.
Speaking of good music, I recently listened to your latest album; “In the Mood” and I found it sensational. It felt like listening to your classic hits all over again. Tell me about the genesis of “In the Mood”
You know, all the albums that I recorded over the years are just songs that come up in my memory banks. Before A&M Records, before the Tijuana Brass. I used to play at parties and weddings. You know, backlog of several hundred songs in my head and every time a song comes up, I find myself to perform it in a way that hasn’t been done quite that way before. So, that’s been my pursuit.
You’ve recent remade a lot of your old hits like “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” and “The Lonely Bull”. What process goes into rearranging these classics?
I never recorded Chattanooga Choo-Choo. The great Glenn Miller Band originally recorded it in 1941. In fact, it was his first hit gold single. I always liked that song. When I was in high school, some bebop musician came up with the line “Pardon Me, Roy. Was that the cat awake or new shoes?” For some reason, it was in my head, that strange little lyric. I just wanted to find a way to do that song. My nephew Randy, who’s quite brilliant, put together this rhythm track and I put my style of jazz over top of it and called on my friend Eddie to put some sophisticated strings on it. I think that combination, those three elements, there like electronic music, jazz and some sophisticated type strings. I feel that its interesting thing to listen to. I always feel like that as long its fun for me to play, and then it could be fun for some people to listen to.
When you perform songs off your latest album “In the Mood;” do you improvise at all you or do you perform them note-for-note?
Good question, no it’s all improvised. One of the reasons I love doing this night after night is that it’s quite open for improvisation. I would do a Tijuana Brass medley in the way that people remember the songs. My wife Lani is a world-class singer, who was the lead singer of Brasil ’66. In fact, she’ll do a Brasil ’66 medley. Other than that, everything else is kind of open. We know the songs that we’re going to play and what happens within the structure of the song is kind of up for grabs and that’s the way I like it. A musician’s free to play whatever they want to play within the context of what we’re playing then I am free to do the same. You know, night after night, it’s totally different.
You have a show coming up in Annapolis on June 18th. What can fans, old & new, expect from your In The Mood Tour?
To have a good time. The reaction has been absolutely amazing and its beyond my wildest dreams. People leave the venues uplifted. I’m trying to make music that makes you feel good because that’s the type of music that I want to play. I want to play music that makes me feel good and it rubs off.
I want to go back to your very first hit “The Lonely Bull”. What was your inspiration behind the hit?
Well, I used to go to bullfights in the spring, a couple hundred miles away from Tijuana, where I lived. They had world-class bullfighters (matadors) in Tijuana and that whole feeling enamored me. There was a brass band in the stands, not a mariachi band, that was announcing the different entrances like (goes into the first few notes of “The Lonely Bull”) and the bull rushed out and the matador do his thing. So, I got caught up with that. I took sometime to reflect on that and see if I can get that feeling into a song on a record.
I had some disc jockey friends at the time and when I played the original recording for them, not the one that was out on the street but the first recording that I did they said “Where’s the hook?” I said, “What do you mean the hook?” They said “Where’s that thing where you can find yourself listening to it and wanting to play that record again?”
At first, I thought it was a strange thing to say. Then I thought about it and I called on a friend of mine, Ken who was the engineer at Liberty Records, who happened to have a tape with 30,000 people screaming “Ole!” I saw that tape and put it in the front of the fanfare of “The Lonely Bull” and we were off to the races. That record came out in three days and it was the first record we released on A&M. We were getting calls from all over the country & all over the world. It was amazing.
How did you and Jerry Moss start A&M Records?
You know in those days it was a whole different scene. A lot of companies were operating out of the trunks of their cars. We were just releasing a record. We didn’t have the interest of producing an independent company. We wanted to release one record. We had tremendous success and were kind of egged on by distributors who said “Why don’t you just take the money and run?” which kind of intrigued us because we thought “Hey, lets reinvent this and see if we can take this to the next path.” It took a while since the Tijuana Brass was supporting us for a few years before things started to happen.
At one time, you sung on of the best songs of your career “This Guy’s in Love with You” in 1968. I like to know what wasit like working with the legendary team Burt Bacharach and Hal David on this classic.
Well, that just happened by accident. I was doing a television show with the Tijuana Brass for NBC and the director, Jack Haley, Jr., asked if I mind singing a song. If I find the right song that I’d feel comfortable with, I would give it a shot. So, I called my friend Burt and asked him if him if there’s a song that he found himself whistling in the shower or didn’t get the right recording. He gave me “This Girl’s in Love with You” which was recorded originally by Dionne Warwick. I heard the song and felt that I could handle it. Burt did the arrangements and it was just a really strong song. When you hear the lyric “who looks at you the way I do”, I mean It’s Over. (We both laugh)
It is! You’re absolutely right, that powerful lyric says “You’re done, you’re in love, case closed.
A great song is a great song, you can’t disguise it there’s something about a melody that lingers on. I think that’s why a lot of the artists especially in the last few years have chosen to take some of the old standards because these songs had these memorable melodies
You performed a fusion of Brazilian jazz. Have you ever experimented with Brazilian Choro music?
No I haven’t but you know the Brasil ’66 albums with Sergio Mendes. This was a big eye opener for me because that music was extraordinary. There were some extraordinary writers and artists that were writing music in that particular period that were just on their own planet. They were not concerned about making hit records, just great songs.
What lead you to your other career as an abstract, impressionist painter?
I have been painting since 1970 and I great tremendous pleasure out of it to my own amazement. It’s something that I like to do. In the 1960’s while traveling around the world, I’d visit museums specifically the modern art section. There, I see a black painting with a purple dot or vice versa and I go “Let me try that”. When I got home, I got equipment, canvas, and acrylic paint then started to move paint around. Little by little I had fun doing it and it started evolving to the point where I am doing some interesting work.
My last series, which was really out there, I started to paint with coffee. My daughter was moving into a new home. She’s an organic person. I thought what could I get her that could be a little off the wall. So, I started painting with organic coffee and some interesting things came out. I now have a series of organic coffee paintings. I stopped doing the organic recently because it was just a little costly but I started to use concentrated coffee and the rinds as well.
For people who would like to find your work, where can they see it?
They can go to herbalpertpresents.com. My work is there!
For my last question, if you can give advice to an up and coming musician or artist, what would you tell them?
I tell you it’s all about passion. If you want to be a musician, make sure you are passionate about it. If you’re not passionate about it, forget it! While you’re sleeping, someone out there wants the same thing as you want is practicing. A friend of mine, Dizzy Gillespie, once said “ The Closer it gets, the further it looks” You see there is no perfection. That’s what a lot of people are thinking that you have to be perfect. We are not to be perfect but to be human. In addition to what I said about the passion, you have to find your own voice – your own way of doing it. You don’t want to sound like anyone else. You don’t want to dance like anyone else. You want to find your own way. Don’t judge yourself against one of the all-time geniuses, just be you.
Special thanks to Herb Alpert for that wonderful interview!
If you want to see Herb and his wife Lani Hall LIVE in concert, they will be in Annapolis on Thursday, June 18 at 8:00pm at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. Tickets are Available at All Rams Head Box Offices, through the website at www.ramsheadonstage.com or via phone at (410) 268-4545
About The Author
