CD1
1. The Lonely Bull
2. Mexican Shuffle
3. Whipped Cream
4. Lollipops and Roses
5. A Taste of Honey
6. Spanish Flea
7. Tijuana Taxi
8. Zorba the Greek
9. What Now My Love
10. So What's New
11. The Work Song
12.This Guy's in Love with You
13. Casino Royale
14. Route 101
15. Fandango
16. Rise
17. Rotation
18. Diamonds
19. Keep Your Eye on Me
20. Making Love in the Rain
CD2
1. Fascinating Rhythm
2. Para-Raio (Pah-Dah-Hi-Yoo)
3. The Trolley Song
4. That Old Black Magic
5. Dinorah (Gee-No-Rah)/Morning
6. It's Only a Paper Moon
7. Let's Face the Music and Dance
8. Morning Coffee
9. I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face
10. Who Are You?
11. Besame Mucho
12. Anything Goes
13. I've Got You under My Skin
14. Laura
Herb Alpert is best-known as the leader of the Tijuana Brass. Its first release - The Lonely Bull - was issued in 1962 on a label called A & M that Alpert founded with his friend Jerry Moss (A & M comes from the initials of their surnames). The Lonely Bull was a hit and the A & M label became as famous and successful as the Tijuana Brass. At one period in the 1960s, the band had four albums simultaneously in the American Top Ten, while the A & M label employed such artists as Sergio Mendes, Burt Bacharach, the Carpenters, and Elkie Brooks.
The distinctive sound of the Tijuana Brass was inspired when Herb saw a bullfight in Tijuana. The band's trademarks included a forceful trumpet section, a strumming guitar and a danceable rhythm. It became a formula, but a musically literate one (note the brilliance of the trumpets in a track like Zorba the Greek). In fact, The Lonely Bull also has a Shadows-style guitar and a background choir. The tune opens this double album, on which the first 13 tracks of the first CD are billed as by the Tijuana Brass, although one of Alpert's biggest hits - This Guy's in Love with You - replaced the Tijuana sound with Herb's vocals. Much of its success must be attributed to it being composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and it has the characteristic sound of many of their recordings.
All this may suggest that Alpert was a populariser, not a jazzman. But subsequent tracks illustrate his many talents, including an ability to play jazz. On the first CD, Rise and Rotation have a jazz-rock feel. The CD's last three tracks are from the album Keep Your Eye on Me, produced by the well-known team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
The second CD is a recent concert recording featuring vocalist Lani Hall (Mrs Herb Alpert) with Herb on trumpet and occasional vocals, plus a small jazz-oriented group. It is a good-natured affair, with Lani negotiating tongue-twisting lyrics in Para Raio and then inviting the audience jokingly to "Sing along with me". Most tracks are jazz standards, professionally delivered by the group in which keyboardist Bill Cantos is a delightful find. There is still an exotic sense to much of the rhythm, but it is Latin-American rather than Mexican. Herb Alpert plays neat jazz solos on such instrumentals as The Trolley Song, and he uses a rotary valve to switch swiftly between muted and open trumpet in It's Only a Paper Moon.
This collection isn't necessarily the "essential" Herb Alpert, as it omits some of his hits, such as Jerusalem and Without Her. But it's a useful reminder of some of Herb's many talents.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Decca 5330337
