Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Greatest Hits

Styles: Trumpet Jazz, Easy Listening
Year: 1970
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 32:01
Size: 76,6 MB
Art: Front

(2:20) 1. Lonely Bull
(2:11) 2. Spanish Flea
(2:15) 3. Getting Sentimental Over You
(3:05) 4. Love Potion #9
(2:45) 5. Never On Sunday
(2:15) 6. Mexican Shuffle
(2:48) 7. Taste Of Honey
(2:10) 8. Tijuana Taxi
(2:13) 9. South Of The Border
(2:52) 10. America
(2:39) 11. Whipped Cream
(4:24) 12. Zorba The Greek

Released in 1970, a bit too late to capitalize on the Tijuana Brass at the peak of their appeal, this early hits collection compounded the error of its tardy timing by only including selections from the TJB's first five albums.

Still, since the CDs of three of the five albums are currently out of print, this can serve as a decent, if brief, overview of the development of Herb Alpert's vehicle from its clever ethnic novelty beginnings into a cosmopolitan septet that could actually bridge the yawning generation gap of the 1960s. But for a more sweeping look at the TJB, there are better, more economical packages around. By Richard S. Ginell
https://www.allmusic.com/album/greatest-hits-mw0000194109

Greatest Hits

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Herb Alpert - Midnight Sun

Styles: Trumpet Jazz

Year: 1992

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 51:28

Size: 119,1 MB

Art: Front

(6:06)  1. Midnight Sun

(3:54)  2. All The Things You Are

(5:18)  3. Someone To Watch Over Me

(5:53)  4. In The Wee Small Hours

(4:22)  5. Friends

(6:52)  6. A Taste Of Honey

(5:47)  7. Mona Lisa

(5:09)  8. I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face

(3:51)  9. Silent Tears And Roses

(4:13) 10. Smile

Having recently sold A&M to PolyGram for a cool $500 million, and with his short but hugely affecting association with the late Stan Getz on his mind, Herb Alpert finally took the plunge and recorded what he called a jazz album, his last for the label he co-founded. But this would not be a conventional blowing session; rather it is an intimate, inward, wee-small-hours kind of album where, muted and not, Alpert's horn sighs, laments and sings over a conventional rhythm section and underneath a blanket of lush strings. Without a doubt, Miles Davis in his introspective '50s mode is Herb's primary inspiration always has been  and he uses space between the notes in similar ways, but always with his own tone and distinct phrasing. Two old favorites from the TJB days, "A Taste of Honey" and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," are revisited; "Taste" is completely transformed into a dark elegy that breaks into the light before turning back to the shadows. One track, "Friends," was left over from 1990, where Herb was joined by a luminous-sounding Getz; they really play like intimate friends together. This is not a terribly spontaneous album Alpert is too much the master of structure to leave very much to chance but it creates a mood of melancholy serenity that is difficult to resist.
By Richard S.Ginell http://www.allmusic.com/album/midnight-sun-mw0000612559

Personnel: Herb Alpert (vocals, trumpet); Larry Carlton, John Pisano, Barry Zweig (guitar); Stan Getz (tenor saxophone); Frank Collett, Eddie del Barrio (piano); Monty Budwig (bass); Harvey Mason, Jeff Hamilton (drums).

Midnight Sun

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Lani Hall (feat. Herb Alpert) - Seasons Of Love

Styles: Vocal,Trumpet Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:05
Size: 81,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:13) 1. Happy Woman
(3:40) 2. Seasons Of Love
(2:40) 3. Lovely Day
(3:39) 4. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
(4:08) 5. Waters Of March
(3:08) 6. You Are
(4:24) 7. No Te Vayas No (I Don't Want You To Go)
(3:18) 8. Now You Know
(3:23) 9. Sorri
(3:28) 10. Here Comes The Sun

Vocalist and author Lani Hall has not released an album of her own in 20 years. That is our loss, for sure. Her last effort not counting her work with husband Herb Alpert on his tours and on a number of his fine Grammy-winning sessions was in 1998. With Seasons of Love Hall's stepping out in front shows nothing has changed. She still has an outstanding voice with plenty of walloping emotional impact. She "returns" with this effort, delivering ten fine songs most well-known which are all beautifully performed, impeccably presented, and superbly produced.

The title track is a dramatic take on the well-known feature from the Broadway hit Rent and it is a highlight. The late Bill Withers' upbeat "Lovely Day" is taken straight up by Hall, and builds over a terrific rhythm bed with Alpert's horn singing along with strings. It is a strong, involving track. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is an intimate play on the Roberta Flack classic. Hall caresses the rich lyric over an accompanying acoustic guitar and, later, with strings. Her approach is elegant and avoids any hint of being sappy or saccharine.

Hall's voice is full and right on point. It is a more seasoned sound than on the early Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 days. She is up front, direct, and honest with outstanding emotional depth, dynamic precision, and killer diction. Her approach to the lyrics is pristine and emotive. There is a ton of dramatic presentation across the session, as well. Herb Alpert handles the instrumental solos and sounds better than ever. His improvised accompaniment lines are well-chosen, lush, melismatic, and frame the vocals superbly without stepping on heels. The accompanying musicians are simply superb throughout.

The Bossa classic "Waters of March" puts Hall on a re-harmonised bed and is dramatically moving. "You Are" has Hall rhythmic over an energetic percussion platform with Alpert blowing on the chorus and a slick modulation. The dramatically lovely "No Te Vayas No (I Don't Want You to Go)" has Hall singing in impeccable Spanish. "Now You Know" is a very moving track with Hall accompanied by piano and strings and Alpert's trumpet filling a simply glorious experience. "Sorri" is a lush Bossa take on Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" where the suave syllabication of Hall's Portuguese lends a romantic and intimate flavoring to the optimistic focus of the tune. George Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun" has Hall's vocal sunshine all over it, closes the date and is very "all right."

As with anything Alpert, this is an impeccably produced and engineered production which plays perfectly to vocal, trumpet, percussion, and all background textures. Seasons of Love is almost an hour of excellent music. A very minor flaw is that a couple of the tracks, as great as they are, seem to end when listeners could certainly want more. But, then again who is to argue with genius?

Personnel: Lani Hall: voice / vocals; Herb Alpert: trumpet; Bill Cantos: piano; Hussain Jiffry: bass, electric; Mitchell Long: guitar; Andre De Santanna: bass; Rafael Padilla: percussion; Eduardo DelBarrio: piano.

Additional Instrumentation: Herb Alpert: vocals, flugelhorn; Bill Cantos: keyboards, strings;

Seasons Of Love

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Herb Alpert - Beyond

Styles: Vocal, Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1980
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:24
Size: 93,7 MB
Art: Front

(5:14)  1. Kamali
(3:00)  2. The Continental
(4:49)  3. Reach For The Stars
(3:27)  4. Interlude (For Erica)
(3:38)  5. Red Hot
(6:01)  6. Beyond
(4:25)  7. That's The Way Of The World
(4:03)  8. Keep It Goin'
(5:43)  9. The Factory

Naturally, the wild success of "Rise" would lead anyone to the temptation of repeating oneself, and at first, this follow-up LP does plenty of that, grafting the same slow, hand-clapping beat onto several numbers. But Alpert won't sit still for long, and he comes through with some startling things that wake up the record midway through. The funky, percolating party beat of "Red Hot" starts the engine, which is pushed to an electrifying degree by the sequencer-driven, Echoplexed, hard-charging title track, where we hear Alpert's distinctive horn through a metallic electronic buffer. The most amazing track is the finale, "The Factory," a terrifying, relentlessly grinding depiction of a soulless foundry that must have shocked sedate former TJB fans who bought this album on a lark, expecting happy music from the past. Bold stuff indeed, and it did make some impact on the charts, though not nearly to the degree of Rise. ~ Richard S.Ginell https://www.allmusic.com/album/beyond-mw0000854674

Personnel: Trumpet – Bob Findley , Herb Alpert; Vocals – Herb Alpert, Randy Badazz;  Flugelhorn – Herb Alpert ; Synthesizer – Herb Alpert ;  Bass – Abraham Laboriel, Robert Russell; Drums – Kevin Calhoun, Manolo Badrena, Steve Gadd, Steve Schaeffer; Guitar – Chris Pinnick , Dana Barry , Johnny Guitar Watson , Peter Frampton, Tim May, Tommy Tedesco; Keyboards – Andy Armer , Michael Boddicker, Mike Lang; Marimba – Julius Wechter; Percussion – Herb Alpert, Randy Badazz; Tenor Saxophone – Ernie Watts; Trombone – Bill Reichenbach 

Beyond

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Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Lost Treasures

Styles: Trumpet Jazz, Easy Listening 
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:10
Size: 140,1 MB
Art: Front

(2:36)  1. Up Cherry Street
(2:56)  2. Lazy Day
(2:52)  3. Wailing Of The Willow
(2:44)  4. Fire And Rain
(2:47)  5. And I Love Her
(2:38)  6. I Can't Go On Living Without You Baby
(2:22)  7. (They Long To Be) Close To You
(2:34)  8. Promises, Promises
(1:52)  9. Happy Hour
(1:33) 10. Julius And Me
(4:14) 11. I Might Frighten Her Away
(2:14) 12. Alone Again (Naturally)
(2:33) 13. Tennessee Waltz
(3:03) 14. Tradewinds
(2:02) 15. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head
(2:06) 16. Flowers On The Wall
(3:45) 17. Popcorn
(2:33) 18. Chris
(3:59) 19. Killing Me Softly
(3:18) 20. I'll Never Fall In Love Again
(1:51) 21. Speakeasy
(3:26) 22. Whistlestar

Early in 2005, Shout! Factory launched an extensive reissue campaign of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass' '60s catalog. In the first wave of reissues, Alpert's classic 1962 debut, The Lonely Bull, and his third album, 1964's South of the Border, were given upgrades and they were joined by a new compilation of rarities called Lost Treasures. Compiled in large part by Alpert himself, Lost Treasures features a generous selection of 22 tracks, recorded somewhere between 1962 and 1972. It's difficult to discern the exact dates since the otherwise excellent liner notes by Josh Kun (with an introduction by Alpert) do not mention when any of the individual songs were recorded or if they've appeared on other albums (Alpert alludes to the fact that some of the cuts here were album tracks on otherwise "unsuccessful" LPs from the early '70s), nor do they mention recording personnel. This is a bit infuriating for any fan or collector who wants to place the cuts in historical context, but as a listening experience, Lost Treasures is as pleasurable as any of the best Tijuana Brass albums. 

Part of this is that Alpert has cherry-picked the best of the leftover sessions and he admits that he did re-record some trumpet parts in order to complete the tracks, but these overdubs are not really noticeable and he's carefully selected and sequenced these tunes so they flow like a real album. But the main reason that Lost Treasures is so enjoyable is that the songs are strong and the performances are nicely laid-back and breezy. Apart from a limber, rather funky reading of James Taylor's "Fire and Rain" and a silky take on the electro-novelty "Popcorn," this is pretty much the signature Tijuana Brass sound served straight up with no frills but a lot of breezy good vibes. But this is a time when no surprises is actually a good thing, since the compilation delivers what Alpert fans want most of all more high-quality tunes from his commercial and creative peak. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine https://www.allmusic.com/album/lost-treasures-mw0000140435

Lost Treasures

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Herb Alpert - Blow Your Own Horn

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1983
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:14
Size: 100,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:46)  1. Red Hot
(4:06)  2. True Confessions
(3:47)  3. Blow Your Own Horn
(4:15)  4. Gently
(4:09)  5. The Midnight Tango
(5:16)  6. Garden Party
(4:19)  7. Paradise Cove
(4:12)  8. Latin Lady
(3:56)  9. Oriental Eyes
(3:23) 10. Sundown

This album is typical of Herb Alpert's '80s style, with his familiar horn sound grafted to contemporary dance and R&B rhythm tracks. He even got the old Motown team of Holland-Dozier-Holland to write and co-produce a couple of tunes. Although there is nothing here to rival Alpert's 1979 comeback "Rise," he had multi-format success with the album, which charted pop, R&B, and jazz and threw off two chart singles, "Garden Party" and "Red Hot." ~ William Ruhlmann https://www.allmusic.com/album/blow-your-own-horn-mw0000189061

Personnel:  Trumpet – Herb Alpert; Vocals – Herb Alpert (tracks: 1, 3, 6), Lamont Dozier (tracks: 3), Randy Badazz (tracks: 1, 5);  Trombone – Randy Aldcroft (tracks: 6);  Tenor Saxophone – Ernie Watts (tracks: 1, 6);  Acoustic Guitar – Tommy Tedesco (tracks: 1);  Bass – Abraham Laboriel (tracks: 1), Freddie Washington (tracks: 10), Nathan East (tracks: 2, 4, 6);  Bass [Moog] – Bill Cuomo (tracks: 6, 8 to 10);  Clavinet – Andy Armer (tracks: 5);  Drums – Carlos Vega (tracks: 6 to 8, 10), John Robinson (2) (tracks: 5), Steve Gadd (tracks: 1);  Drums [Linn] – Herb Alpert (tracks: 4);  Drums [Simmons] – John Gilston (tracks: 7), Mike Baird (tracks: 2);  Electric Guitar – Chris Pinnick (tracks: 1);  Guitar – Lee Ritenour (tracks: 7), Paul Jackson,Jr. (tracks: 2 to 4, 6), Steve Lukather (tracks: 9), Tim May (tracks: 5, 10);  Keyboards – Bill Cuomo (tracks: 4, 7 to 9), John Barnes (tracks: 2, 3), Neil Larsen (tracks: 6);  Piano – Andy Armer (tracks: 1), Michel Colombier (tracks: 10);  Piano [Acoustic] – Bill Cuomo (tracks: 8, 9), John Barnes (tracks: 2), Sergio Andrade (2) (tracks: 4);  Piano [Wurlitzer] – Mike Lang (tracks: 1)

Blow Your Own Horn

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Herb Alpert & Lani Hall - Anything Goes (Live)

Styles: Trumpet And Vocal Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:28
Size: 148,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:14)  1. Fascinating Rhythm
(5:47)  2. Para Raio (Pah dah hi yoo)
(3:48)  3. The Trolley Song
(4:43)  4. That Old Black Magic
(6:29)  5. Dinorah (Gee no rah) / Morning
(1:56)  6. It's Only a Paper Moon
(5:15)  7. Let's Face the Music and Dance
(3:25)  8. Morning Coffee
(3:50)  9. I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face
(4:30) 10. Who Are You? (w/ Bill Cantos)
(4:44) 11. Besame Mucho
(3:34) 12. Anything Goes
(4:26) 13. I've Got You Under My Skin
(5:41) 14. Laura

Though trumpet legend Herb Alpert and wife Lani Hall have been together for more than three decades, it's hard to believe that Anything Goes is their very first album together. A musician and entrepreneur, Alpert is best known for his work in the 1960s with his Tijuana Brass, five number one hits, eight Grammy Awards and fifteen gold albums. As co-founder of A&M Records, Alpert's impact on music has been even greater. After signing Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 to A&M and producing the group's first recordings in the 1960s, Alpert met and later married lead singer Lani Hall. After being together on stage many times, Alpert and Hall collect a set of eight live performances recorded across the United States for Anything Goes.  The selection of music could not be better, as the duo draws on a total of fourteen pieces including standards from the songbooks of Harold Arlen and Cole Porter to Gershwin and Irving Berlin classics, Latin and Brazilian music. The years have treated Hall kindly, as her vocal energy has not diminished in any discernible way. Some of her finest performances can be heard on songs like "That Old Black Magic" and "I've Got You Under My Skin," but perhaps her best and most powerful vocals are on the two Brazilian songs, Djavan's "Para-Raio" and Ivan Lins' classic, "Dinorah," both sung in Portuguese.  Hall shares vocals with pianist Bill Cantos on the opening " Fascinating Rhythm" and the stunning Cantos original , "Who Are You," where she reaches high notes with ease. Cantos joins Alpert on "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face," with drummer Michael Shapiro and bassist Hussain Jiffry rounding out the group's musical support. As for Alpert, he is simply amazing; whether on open trumpet or muted horn, he leads the music, providing a slew of gritty solos and holding court on several instrumentals including "The Trolley Song," Consuelo Velazquez's Latin classic, "Besame Mucho," and David Raskin's immortal "Laura." Alpert may be viewed through the prism of pop music, largely because of his success in the genre and partly of his own doing when he stated that, during the 1960s and 1970s, " [I] was in the closet as a jazz musician because I wasn't quite sure where I fit in." He now firmly asserts that, "I' m basically a jazz musician...Jazz is always in my spirit." With Anything Goes, Alpert cements his jazz pedigree, and as for this long-awaited duo record, these two very special people and partners for life make beautiful music together...and lucky for us. Anything Goes immortalizes their performance once and for all; hopefully there is an encore in the waiting.~ Edward Blanco https://www.allaboutjazz.com/anything-goes-herb-alpert-concord-music-group-review-by-edward-blanco.php

Personnel: Herb Alpert: trumpet, vocals; Lani Hall: vocals; Bill Cantos: piano, vocals; Hussain Jiffry: bass; Mike Shapiro: drums, percussion.

Anything Goes (Live)

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Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Herb Alpert's Ninth

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1967
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 28:43
Size: 71,6 MB
Art: Front

(2:11)  1. A Banda
(1:58)  2. My Heart Belongs To Daddy
(2:40)  3. The Trolley Song
(2:27)  4. The Happening
(3:38)  5. Bud
(2:29)  6. Love So Fine
(1:54)  7. The Love Nest
(2:43)  8. With A Little Help From My Friends
(2:05)  9. Flea Bag
(2:53) 10. Cowboys And Indians
(3:40) 11. Carmen

The cover art of Herb Alpert's Ninth is hilarious a bust of grim old Beethoven wearing a Herb Alpert sweatshirt, a parody of the pop icon fad going around at the time and maybe a comment on the rock world's newfound pretensions in the wake of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper. In any case, Herb Alpert's Ninth does introduce some highbrow pretensions of sorts to Alpert's Ameriachi sound some very subtly applied strands of strings on several numbers and a madcap, multi-sectioned fantasy of tunes from Bizet's Carmen that is full of in-jokes from the opera and the TJB's hits. Alpert is also quite aware of the brave new world around him; he does a spare, lazy, yet entirely novel-sounding cover version of Sgt. Pepper's "With a Little Help from My Friends" and gives the Supremes' "The Happening" a bouncy workout. There is also a touching memorial to the late Ervan Coleman ("Bud") and another underrated contribution from the Alpert songwriting team, Sol Lake's swinging "Cowboys and Indians." The TJB still churns out the Latin American rhythms, but sometimes with a shade less exuberance.~ Richard S.Ginell https://www.allmusic.com/album/herb-alperts-ninth-mw0000207755

Herb Alpert's Ninth

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Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Going Places !!!

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 29:49
Size: 68.3 MB
Styles: AM Pop, Easy Listening
Year: 1965/2016
Art: Front

[2:05] 1. Tijuana Taxi
[2:10] 2. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You
[2:45] 3. More And More Amor
[2:07] 4. Spanish Flea
[2:27] 5. Mae
[2:33] 6. 3rd Man Theme
[1:46] 7. Walk, Don't Run
[2:45] 8. Felicia
[2:37] 9. And The Angels Sing
[2:16] 10. Cinco De Mayo
[1:48] 11. A Walk In The Black Forest
[4:25] 12. Zorba The Greek

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass were rolling right down the middle of the American pop scene like a locomotive in 1966 -- and this album captures them at the peak of their exuberance. By now, there really was a live, touring edition of the Tijuana Brass, and there was an easily identifiable TJB sound, with its strummed Latin American guitars, twin trumpet leads, delicate marimba or vibes (played by Julius Wechter of Baja Marimba Band fame in the studio), and strong grooves rooted in Latin American music, jazz, and rock. Alpert's family of sidemen and composers were busy generating their own catchy hits, like Wechter's deadly, infectious "Spanish Flea," and the tragically short-lived Ervan Coleman's wonderfully goofy "Tijuana Taxi." The bossman's trumpet could be joyous, mocking, and melancholy in turns, and his choices of tunes totally unpredictable; who else would dare juxtapose "The 3rd Man Theme," "Walk, Don't Run," "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You," and "Zorba the Greek" on one record? No other TJB record has as much unbuttoned fun and humor as this one -- and not surprisingly, it spent six weeks at number one in 1966. ~Richard S. Ginnell

Going Places !!!

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Herb Alpert - The Christmas Wish (With SYmphony And Choir)

Size: 125,5 MB
Time: 53:38
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz Pop, Xmas
Art: Front

01. Joy To The World - Silver Bells (4:01)
02. Let It Snow - Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (2:56)
03. Santa Baby (3:02)
04. Carol Of The Bells - We Wish You A Merry Christmas (3:58)
05. I'll Be Home For Christmas (3:47)
06. Silent Night (2:40)
07. Winter Wonderland (4:12)
08. Merry Christmas, Darling (3:30)
09. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (2:36)
10. The Christmas Wish (3:48)
11. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (4:29)
12. The Christmas Song (3:30)
13. White Christmas (3:56)
14. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve (3:05)
15. Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring (4:02)

While Christmas is still several months away, the holidays’ gears are being oiled for the eventual arrival of holiday music. And, as many of you already know, there are never a lack of new holiday sets. It’s as if there’s an insatiable appetite for you. And the record labels are all too happy to supply that appetite with a lot of new music every year.

This year, one of the first out of the gate is from an old favorite, Herb Alpert. The last Christmas album from Herb Alpert came back in 1968, entitled Christmas Album. Along the way, Herb Alpert released many an endearing classic including his 1987 classic set (Keep Your Eye On Me) that gave us two radio hits. And of course, that entrancing cover of “Stranger On The Shore” played the deeper cut FM circuit well. But Christmas is why we’re here.

On September, Herb Alpert will release his first Christmas album in 50 years. The new album will be titled The Christmas Wish. It will provide fifteen familiar holiday classics. But this album will provide a twist. The songs will be delivered with the use of a ten-piece rhythm section, a 45-piece orchestra, and a 32-member choir to give it a much more distinct sound. Of course, Herb Alpert’s trumpet is the centerpiece of the package. ~By mattrowe

The Christmas Wish

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Herb Alpert - Music Vol. 1

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:43
Size: 90,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:21)  1. Flamingo
(3:05)  2. Unforgettable
(3:52)  3. Michelle
(3:08)  4. C'est Si Bon
(3:05)  5. I'm Yours
(3:18)  6. Cheek To Cheek
(2:40)  7. Just A Gigolo
(4:01)  8. Witchcraft
(3:21)  9. Sugarfoot
(2:55) 10. Strike Up The Band
(3:34) 11. You Stepped Out Of A Dream
(2:16) 12. Imagine

Having enjoyed a career resurgence since returning to regular touring and recording in 2007, trumpeter and pop icon Herb Alpert celebrates his ten-year run with 2017's vibrant Music, Vol. 1. As with his more recent releases, Music, Vol. 1 finds him reworking a set of well-curated standards and 20th century pop classics in an electronic-tinged, often dance-oriented style. Included are songs by Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, the Beatles, and others. The difference this time out is that rather than working with any of his longtime collaborators, here Alpert recorded with veteran Dutch producer Jochem van der Saag (Andrea Bocelli, Barbra Streisand, Michael Bublé). The result is an album of kinetic, highly animated arrangements reminiscent of the trumpeter's classic '60s easy listening tracks, but with a modern twist. For fans of Alpert's albums since 2009's comeback Anything Goes, there is plenty to enjoy here, including his Parisian-chanson-meets-midtempo-ska rendition of the Beatles' "Michelle" and his similarly genre-bending swing-meets-electro-reggae take on the standard "Strike Up the Band." We also get similarly effective transmutations like the hip-hop-infused "Unforgettable" (which also features Alpert's boyish vocals), a '90s-style new jack swing version of "You Stepped Out of a Dream," and a jaunty, lounge-ready version of "C'est Si Bon." While the album has a generally lighter emotional tone than Alpert's Grammy-nominated 2016 effort Human Nature, we do get his lovingly rendered, orchestral-synth accented take on John Lennon's "Imagine." Ultimately, with Alpert having entered his octogenarian decade, it's life-affirming to hear him continue to deliver such buoyant and creatively engaged albums as this. ~ Matt Collar http://www.allmusic.com/album/release/music-vol-1-mr0004741235

Personnel: Herb Alpert (vocals, trumpet); Jochem van der Saag (keyboards, synthesizer, programming).

Music Vol. 1

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Herb Alpert - Herb Alpert & Colors

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:29
Size: 106,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:57)  1. Libertango
(6:33)  2. The Look of Love
(5:32)  3. Colors
(3:34)  4. i Want You
(4:16)  5. Think About it
(5:04)  6. Dorita
(3:38)  7. Lady in My Life
(3:22)  8. Love at First Glance
(5:56)  9. Magic Man
(4:32) 10. Slow Train

It would be easy for the former Tijuana Brassman and founder of A&M to just rest on his career achievements or just make music to pass the time, but instead, the 60-something trumpeter rings in with one of the year's most remarkable jams. Alpert's recent output has ranged from the heart of smooth jazz (Second Wind, produced by Jeff Lorber) to fiery Latin (Passion Dance), but here the muse takes him to the mystical world of studio-bred trip-hop. Working with multi-instrumentalists and producers Will Calhoun and Doug Wimbush, Alpert surrounds his muted trumpet with hypnotic vibes and ambiences some of which seem to drift into the sonic atmospheres, others bred from thick machine generated exotic percussion textures percolating over throbbing urban bass grooves. While ethereal experimentation with tons of cool studio equipment and sonic possibilities seems to be the general philosophy, he hasn't forgotten his Latin roots. The opening track, "Libertango," features a lighthearted horn melody drifting over a throbbing urban bass groove, percussion clicks, and the galloping flamenco flavors of Wimbish's acoustic guitar, all wrapped up in a dramatic synth orchestral sweep. "Dorita" centers Bernard Fowler's Spanish vocals amidst a wacky swirl of pitter patter and marching percussion, spacey sound effects, exotic soundscaping, moody retro keyboards, and Alpert's catchy, laid-back melody. Bridging past and present, Alpert approaches Burt Bachrach's "The Look of Love" as if it were a Miles Davis/Brian Eno collaboration, his smoky horn enhanced by his wife Lani Hall's breathy vocals. He also covers himself with a new hip-hop shuffle arrangement of his popular early-'80s gem, "Magic Man." Older and wiser than either Rick Braun or Chris Botti, Alpert gives the genre's two top horn guns a powerful run for their smooth jazz money. ~ Jonathan Widran http://www.allmusic.com/album/colors-mw0000667240

Personnel: Herb Alpert (vocals, trumpet, flugelhorn); Will Calhoun (vocals, snare drum, percussion); Lani Hall (vocals, sampler); Bernard Fowler (vocals); Heitor Pereira (guitar); Doug Wimbish (acoustic guitar, trumpet); Jorge "Coco" Trivisonno (bandoneon); Bernie Worrell (organ, keyboards); Gregory Smith (keyboards, programming); Eduardo del Barrio (string synthesizer, sampler); Paulinho Da Costa (percussion); Danny Saber (programming).

Herb Alpert & Colors

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Herb Alpert - Keep Your Eye On Me

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1987
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:50
Size: 104,6 MB
Art: Front

(5:11)  1. Keep Your Eye On Me
(3:56)  2. Hot Shot
(4:53)  3. Diamonds
(3:14)  4. Traffic Jam
(5:26)  5. Cat Man Do
(4:32)  6. Pillow
(3:54)  7. Our Song
(5:55)  8. Making Love In The Rain
(3:51)  9. Rocket To The Moon
(2:53) 10. Stranger On The Shore

The unbelievable sales success of this record is a testament to Herb Alpert's extraordinary ability to keep his ear to the ground no doubt aided by his position as vice-chairman and co-owner of A&M Records and adapt to the times. At a time when A&M's Janet Jackson was blazing up the charts, Alpert journeyed to Minneapolis and cut some tracks with Jackson's producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, producing the others himself in a mostly similar techno-pop vein. Presto!, three Top Ten R&B singles came out of the album, "Keep Your Eye on Me," "Making Love in the Rain," and the number one hit "Diamonds." The flashy, trashy "Diamonds" no doubt was aided on its rush up the charts by Jackson and Lisa Keith's bouncy lead vocals; it's really their record and that of Jam and Lewis, despite Alpert's top billing. Jackson and Keith also take the lead in the simple-minded lyrics of "Making Love in the Rain," which nevertheless has a haunting effect accented by Alpert's muted musings through an electronic gauze. At first, this seems like a gleaming digital machine of a record, loaded with repetitive sampling effects and drum machines churning out that ubiquitous '80s backbeat. But the techno stuff gradually gives way to Alpert's humane trumpet, which in a touching valentine to the '60s on Acker Bilk's "Stranger on the Shore," is eventually allowed to soar unimpeded over the electronics. ~ Richard G.Ginell http://www.allmusic.com/album/keep-your-eye-on-me-mw0000188950

Personnel:  Herb Alpert (harmonica, trumpet, flugelhorn, celesta); Jellybean Johnson (vocals, percussion); Janet Jackson, Lisa Keith, Terry Lewis (vocals, background vocals); James Greer, Jerome Benton, Lani Hall (vocals); Michael Landau (guitar); John Barnes (tuba, organ, keyboards); Laythan Armor (keyboards, bass synthesizer, drums, percussion, programming); Les Pierce (keyboards, drums, programming); Roy Bittan (keyboards); Chuck Domanico (acoustic bass); Jimmy Jam (bass guitar, drums, percussion, keyboard programming); Steven Schaeffer (drums, percussion); Jeff Porcaro (drums); Paulinho Da Costa (percussion); David Eiland (keyboard programming, sampler).

Keep Your Eye On Me

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Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - The Brass Are Comin'

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 32:58
Size: 75.5 MB
Styles: Easy Listening, Jazz-pop
Year: 1969/2016
Art: Front

[2:06] 1. The Brass Are Comin' (The Little Train Of Caipira)
[2:37] 2. Good Morning, Mr. Sunshine
[2:57] 3. Country Lake
[3:16] 4. I'll Be Back
[2:54] 5. Moon River
[2:15] 6. The Maltese Melody
[3:09] 7. Sunny
[2:38] 8. I'm An Old Cowhand (From The Rio Grande)
[2:38] 9. Anna
[2:15] 10. Robbers And Cops
[2:44] 11. Moments
[3:24] 12. You Are My Life

The Western motif on the double-fold album jacket -- with Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass in costume -- signals this as another companion album to a TV special. But there is a deeper significance to this LP, for shortly after its release, a burned-out, personally troubled Alpert disbanded the Brass and retired from music for awhile. Indeed, stretches of this record reveal a tired group and a leader whose trumpet has lost much of its old zip. Even so, as on all TJB albums, there are several gems -- the stunning shifts in texture and tempo that enliven the worn-out "Moon River," the chugging bluegrass-tinged arrangement of Villa-Lobos' "The Little Train of the Caipira" that masquerades under the name of the title track, a haunting rendition of the Beatles' "I'll Be Back," the fast samba treatment of "Anna." Dave Grusin and Shorty Rogers contribute an occasional orchestration, and Alpert does a modest vocal turn on the lush "You Are My Life." But this time, the old sales magic was gone; the Tijuana Brass had suddenly become unhip in polarized 1969. ~Richard S. Ginnell

The Brass Are Comin'

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Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Coney Island

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1975
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:42
Size: 96,1 MB
Art: Front

(2:14)  1. Coney Island
(2:36)  2. I Have Dreamed
(4:29)  3. Senor Mouse
(4:04)  4. Mickey
(2:30)  5. Sweet Georgia Brown
(3:07)  6. Ratatouille (Rata Too Ee)
(2:37)  7. Catfish
(2:39)  8. This Masquerade
(5:34)  9. Carmine
(1:54) 10. The Crave
(3:49) 11. Vento Bravo
(5:02) 12. I Belong

Encouraged by his comeback album, Herb Alpert assembled a new version of the TJB including a hotshot second trumpeter, Bob Findley, and jazz piano whiz Dave Frishberg and hit the studio and road in 1975. Yet Coney Island was a brave, nearly complete departure from the old Tijuana Brass, where the jazzers were given carte blanche and the rhythm section encouraged to do more complex things. As a signal of independence, the new Brass tackle Chick Corea's "Senor Mouse" head-on, where Frishberg runs wild and even longtime marimbist Julius Wechter is affected by the adventurous spirit. Alpert's own playing on trumpet (and now flugelhorn and piano) is a bit freer as well, and he goes out on a limb as a composer with the experimental, not-quite-coherent "Carmine." TJB tradition is also served by a loose, swinging version of "I Have Dreamed," and an older legacy pops up in the Alpert/Frishberg duet on Jelly Roll Morton's "The Crave." But this edition of the Brass was short-lived; the public didn't get it and Alpert soon moved on to solo projects, leaving this sole LP as its legacy. ~ Richard S.Ginell http://www.allmusic.com/album/coney-island-mw0000857103

Personnel: Peter Woodford (guitar); Herb Alpert, Bob Findley (trumpet); Bob Edmondson (trombone); Dave Fishberg (piano); Julius Wechter (marimba, percussion); Steven Schaeffer (drums); Vince Charles (steel drum, percussion).

Coney Island

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Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Whipped Cream & Other Delights

Styles: Jazz Pop
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 29:41
Size: 68,5 MB
Art: Front

(2:49)  1. A Taste of Honey
(1:32)  2. Green Peppers
(2:49)  3. Tangerine
(1:45)  4. Bittersweet Samba
(2:25)  5. Lemon Tree
(2:35)  6. Whipped Cream
(2:58)  7. Love Potion No. 9
(2:13)  8. El Garbanzo
(2:46)  9. Lady Fingers
(2:14) 10. Butterball
(2:13) 11. Peanuts
(3:14) 12. Lollipops and Roses

One time in high school I flipped through my parents' records hoping that they might have purchased some Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd albums without my knowledge. No such luck, but tucked in between Barbara Streisand and John Denver was a copy of Whipped Cream and Other Delights. "This must be great. Look at the cover! I thought to myself. Then I put it on the turntable. Nope. Foiled again. My parents were just as uncool as ever. But there's no denying that millions of Americans were hooked by this album in 1966, or at least by the cover featuring an alluring model covered in whipped cream (shaving cream, as it turns out). Whipped Cream gave Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass an overnight success that made them popular with just about everybody. It was an appropriate title for an album that many people consumed en masse but critics claimed was light, fluffy, and had little substance or content. Even though there are probably millions of copies of Whipped Cream available for a dime in flea markets and garage sales, Shout! Factory has reissued a remastered version, along with several other Alpert titles, as part of its Herb Alpert catalog.You know at least two songs on here already: the title track, which was used for the bachelors' theme on The Dating Game, and "A Taste Of Honey, which was Alpert's first big hit (even today Alpert's music is inescapable). The concept of Whipped Cream is a collection of songs with titles all having to do with food, although this makes little difference once the songs get filtered through Alpert's idiosyncrasies. Almost forty years later it's a bit surprising that his blend of Dixieland, pop, mariachi, and just about everything else caught on like it did. Perhaps it was just that there was a little something there for everyone.

But beyond the two hits are plenty of catchy instrumentals that are superbly arranged. The Tijuana Brass was a tight outfit filled with impeccable musicians (at least one, guitarist John Pisano, going on to earn serious jazz credentials). At the very least, Alpert was a gifted arranger who understood the architecture of successful pop music and managed to create an unexpected hit record. Today, once you can get past the initial recoil of listening to music this obviously dated, it's apparent that Alpert was on to something. Much of this material is very catchy and appealing, and there's enough variety in the basic concept to ensure that it doesn't get run into the ground. A lot of fashionable music from the past sounds dated today, as Alpert's does, but that doesn't detract from its charm. Fifteen years after I scoured my parents' records, I'm forced to conclude that Whipped Cream and Other Delights isn't a bad record after all. However, it's probably all the Alpert one needs in their collection. Which bring up an interesting question: who is the target audience for this release? It's hard to believe that there are people out there who are salivating for it. Perhaps the serious retro enthusiasts will pick it up, or maybe the cover will lure others in just like the initial release. (A side note: Shout! Factory has included a full-size reproduction of the original cover in the packaging.) Regardless, since you've heard the Tijuana Brass before, your mind may be already be made up. But as a piece of pop culture, Whipped Cream and Other Delights is a great example of slick sixties instrumental pop, and not nearly as bad as you think. Check it out. ~ David Rickert https://www.allaboutjazz.com/herb-alpert-and-the-tijuana-brass-whipped-cream-and-other-delights-by-david-rickert.php

Personnel: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass.

Whipped Cream & Other Delights

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Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - South Of The Border

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 27:40
Size: 63.3 MB
Styles: Jazz-pop, Easy Listening
Year: 1964/2016
Art: Front

[2:08] 1. South Of The Border
[2:36] 2. The Girl From Ipanema
[1:55] 3. Hello, Dolly!
[2:25] 4. I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face
[2:15] 5. Up Cherry Street
[2:11] 6. Mexican Shuffle
[2:40] 7. El Presidente
[1:56] 8. All My Loving
[2:21] 9. Angelito
[2:06] 10. Salud, Amor Y Dinero (Health, Love And Money)
[2:19] 11. Número Cinco (Number Five)
[2:42] 12. Adiós, Mi Corazón (Goodbye, My Heart)

Herb Alpert was still using an array of SoCal studio all-stars as his Tijuana Brass when South of the Border (1964) began to restore the combo's good name after the modest Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, Vol. 2 (1963) failed to ignite a fire in listener's ears. Alpert later commented that the Sol Lake composition "Mexican Shuffle" "opened a new door for me." That passageway meant the loss of the Tijuana Brass' practically forced mariachi style and the rise of Alpert's approach in arranging familiar melodies in fresh, creative settings. Nowhere would this stylistic progression be as pronounced as in the horn-driven updates of several then-concurrent chart hits. For instance, the mod sonic wrinkle in "Girl from Ipanema" emits a darkness veiled in mystery, directly contrasting the light buoyancy of "Hello! Dolly" or the footloose feel of the Beatles' "All My Loving." They seamlessly fit in with Sol Lake's "Salud, Amor y Dinero" and a cover of Julius Wechter's playful, midtempo "Up Cherry Street" -- which Wechter's own Baja Marimba Band had just recorded for their 1964 self-titled debut. The ballads "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," "Angelito," and "Adios, Mi Corazon" provide contrasts with Alpert's sensitive scores never seeming maudlin or unnecessarily over the top. If the regal "El Presidente" sounds particularly familiar, it may well be due to Alpert's slight renovation of the "Winds of Barcelona" from the Tijuana Brass' previous effort, the less than impressive Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, Vol. 2. It was renamed "El Presidente," presumably to honor the then-recent memory of the slain U.S. leader John Fitzgerald Kennedy. ~Lindsay Planer

South Of The Border

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Herb Alpert - Human Nature

Size: 193 MB
Time: 30:50
File: FLAC
Released: 2016
Styles: Jazz
Art: Front

01. Human Nature (3:04)
02. Shake It (3:31)
03. Alfie (3:10)
04. Thalia (3:14)
05. Look Up Again (4:04)
06. Incognito (3:55)
07. Don't Go Breaking My Heart (2:44)
08. Mystery Man (3:44)
09. Doodles (3:21)

Herb Alpert's new album 'Human Nature' finds the iconic musician delving into dance grooves and elements of electronic music in a way he has never done before. The new album, his fourth new release in just three years, is out September 30 and features five original compositions and Herb's signature reimagining of classics like Michael Jackson's "Human Nature," Burt Bacharach's "Alfie" and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," and Bacharach and Elvis Costello's "Look Up Again." Herb's legendary career includes five decades of unprecedented breakthroughs as an artist, record executive and philanthropist. In the past three years alone, he won his ninth GRAMMY for 2013's Steppin' Out and received the National Medal of Arts from President Obama.

Lead single and original track "Doodles" is propelled by a deep pocket groove and Herb's iconic phrasing, an earworm melody in his breathless style. "Human Nature," a Michael Jackson smash hit, gets a Latin tinge, the song stripped to its essentials to let the rhythm and melody shine. The album artwork, of a figure playing the trumpet, is an original sculpture that Herb crafted.

'Human Nature' is available for pre-order on August 5. Fans will receive an immediate download of "Doodles" with each order through iTunes or Amazon MP3.

In September, Herb will also re-release 24 classic albums from his illustrious career on CD with 4 titles to be released on LP. Each title has been remastered from the original analog tape mixes by GRAMMY-winning engineer Bernie Grundman, who was the original mastering engineer for many of these recordings. Several have been out of print for a number of years.

A 2006 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Alpert's albums have sold over 72 million copies, and 29 of his records have reached the Billboard 200. Herb has also dedicated his life to philanthropy, funding music education programs across the country. Through his personal foundation, Herb has helped establish music programs at UCLA and the California Institute of Arts. Both schools have named their programs the Herb Alpert School of Music in his honor. Alpert has also established the Herb Alpert Scholarships for Emerging Young Artists, which help provide tuition to twenty young musicians each year.

Human Nature

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Gato Barbieri - Ruby, Ruby

Styles: Saxophone Jazz, Jazz Fusion
Year: 1977
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:48
Size: 100,6 MB
Art: Front

(6:30)  1. Ruby
(5:26)  2. Nostalgia
(5:03)  3. Latin Reaction
(5:47)  4. Ngiculela/Es Una Historia/I Am Singing
(5:54)  5. Sunride
(4:45)  6. Adios
(5:49)  7. Blue Angel
(4:32)  8. Midnight Tango

Leandro Barbieri (28 November 1932 – 2 April 2016), known as Gato Barbieri (Spanish for "the cat" Barbieri), was an Argentine jazz tenor saxophonist and composer who rose to fame during the free jazz movement in the 1960s and is known for his Latin jazz recordings of the 1970s.  

Born to a family of musicians, Barbieri began playing music after hearing Charlie Parker's "Now's the Time". He played the clarinet and later the alto saxophone while performing with the Argentinean pianist Lalo Schifrin in the late 1950s. By the early 1960s, while playing in Rome, he also worked with the trumpeter Don Cherry. By now influenced by John Coltrane's late recordings, as well as those from other free jazz saxophonists such as Albert Ayler and Pharoah Sanders, he began to develop the warm and gritty tone with which he is associated. In the late 1960s, he was fusing music from South America into his playing and contributed to multi-artist projects like Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra and Carla Bley's Escalator Over The Hill. His score for Bernardo Bertolucci's film Last Tango in Paris earned him a Grammy Award and led to a record deal with Impulse! Records. By the mid-70s, he was recording for A&M Records and moved his music towards soul-jazz and jazz-pop. Caliente! (1976) included his best known song, a rendition of Carlos Santana's "Europa". The follow-up album, Ruby Ruby (1977) were both produced by fellow musician and label co-founder, Herb Alpert. Although he continued to record and perform well into the 1980s, the death of his wife Michelle led him to withdraw from the public arena. He returned to recording and performing in the late 1990s with the soundtrack for the film Seven Servants by Daryush Shokof (1996). The album Qué Pasa (1997) moved more into the style of smooth jazz. Barbieri received the UNICEF Award at the Argentinian Consulate in November 2009. He died on 2 April 2016 in New York City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gato_Barbieri

Charming and romantic fit the description of Gato Barbieri and the work he presents here, the album Ruby, Ruby. The production of the record, mastered and engineered handsomely by Herb Alpert, is very lush and beautiful to a lasting degree. Barbieri turns his first song, "Ruby," from an early-on haunting love ballad to an appealing and gripping all-out Latin jam session. This theme happens to find itself playing roles several times over throughout the record. The musicianship explored is captivating and adventurous, taking the listener on a passionate journey to whatever part of the soul he or she wishes to find or dares to pursue. A soaring sound at times, with Barbieri's splendid, racing saxophone melody lines. "Nostalgia" brings the delicate and eloquent guitar work of Lee Ritenour, who also takes part in the creation of "Sunride" and bits of "Ruby." As with most jazz records, percussion is responsible for playing a key role in the inception of the groove and depth of the material. Because of this album's Latin context, Barbieri does a wonderful job inspiring his friends in the rhythm section to come to life. Joe Clayton plays the textured conga on "Latin Reaction," and Lenny White leads a band of fellow passionate drummers, including Paulina da Costa, Steve Gadd, Steve Jordan, and Bernard Purdie. The entire atmosphere of the record changes smoothly in texture and tempo, drifting like a channeling stream from subdued and slow to rampant and passionately loud. Certainly, Barbieri intended it to be a delight of the first degree in the Latin scene, and one listen should win the hearts and minds of the listener. Conjuring up romance and scenes of a starry night in Latin America, this music is the soul of Latin music at its peak in the late '70s. A soothing and ethereal delight, even considering its only weakness: the lack of words and lyrics.~Shawn M.Haney http://www.allmusic.com/album/ruby-ruby-mw0000654493

Personnel: Gato Barbieri (tenor saxophone); David Spinozza, Joe Caro (guitar); Eddy Martinez (keyboards); Gary King (bass guitar); Lenny White (drums); Angel "Cachete" Maldonado (percussion).

Additional personnel: Lee Ritenour (guitar); Herb Alpert, Jon Faddis, Alan Rubin, Lew Soloff, Marvin Stamm (trumpet); Tom "Bones" Malone, John Gale (French horn); David Taylor , Paul Faulise (trombone); Don Grolnick (organ); Ian Underwood (synthesizer); Eddie Guagua (bass guitar); Steve Gadd (drums); Joe Clayton (conga drum); Paulinho Da Costa, Portinho (percussion); Nadien.

R.I.P.
Born: 28-11-1932/Died: 02-4-2016

Ruby, Ruby

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Herb Alpert - Come Fly With Me

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:47
Size: 94,6 MB
Art: Front

(2:38)  1. Come Fly With Me
(3:36)  2. Blue Skies
(3:00)  3. Got A Lot Of Livin' To Do
(3:22)  4. Cheeky
(2:44)  5. Take The
(4:10)  6. Love Affair
(4:29)  7. Windy City
(2:39)  8. Sweet And Lovely
(2:56)  9. Walkin' Tall
(3:13) 10. Night Ride
(2:51) 11. Something
(1:39) 12. On The Sunny Side Of The Street
(3:25) 13. Danny Boy

Since his 2009 return to regular recording after a ten-year hiatus, trumpeter Herb Alpert has stayed busy releasing albums, some with his wife, vocalist Lani Hall, and others, like 2015's Come Fly with Me, on his own. 80 years old at the time of this release, Alpert has gone from instrumental pop icon of the '60s and '70s to journeyman performer with decades of experience to draw from. Working with a bevy of longtime collaborators including his nephew, programmer Randy "Badazz" Alpert, bassist/guitarist/producer Hussain Jiffry, keyboardist/producer Bill Cantos, keyboardist/guitarist Jeff Lorber, Alpert has crafted a breezy, low-key collection of originals and cover tunes, that nonetheless retains all of the melodic, jazz-inflected style of his classic recordings. Although Alpert takes on a handful of standards here, he approaches them with a creative sense of fun. To these ends, he reworks the classic Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen title track into a Day-Glo, Brazilian bossa nova production. 

Similarly, on Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies," Alpert's supple trumpet is framed by lush orchestral strings that give way to a laid-back reggae groove accented by vibrato-soaked, Beatles-esque guitar hits. And it's not just Broadway standards that benefit from the Alpertization process the Beatles influence pops up again, this time with his stripped-down, ethereal take on the band's 1969 classic "Something." One of the most interesting and effective transformations here is Alpert's R&B style overhaul of "I've Got a Lot of Livin' to Do," from the musical Bye Bye Birdie. Kicking off with an introspective keyboard figure, the song sounds like something along the lines of Miles Davis covering a yearning '90s soul ballad. 

As with most all of Alpert's post-2009 material, Come Fly with Me is a much more low-key and intimate recording than the productions that marked the best of his '60s Tijuana Brass period. That said, by keeping things simple, Alpert and his collaborators illuminate all of the tenderness and direct lyricism of his horn playing. ~ Matt Collar  http://www.allmusic.com/album/come-fly-with-me-mw0002865885

Personnel: Herb Alpert (trumpet);  Scott Mayo (vocals, flute, saxophone); Michael Shapiro (vocals, drums, percussion); Marcel Camargo (guitar, cavaquinho); Jeff Lorber (guitar, keyboards, programming); Hussain Jiffry (guitar); Eduardo del Barrio (strings, keyboards, programming); Dorrel Salmon (Hammond b-3 organ); Bill Cantos, Jamieson Trotter (keyboards); Robert Greenidge (steel drum); Randy "Badazz" Alpert (programming).

Come Fly With Me

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