From an article I wrote recently…

“It’s not often that you get to speak with a musical legend as lasting and impactful as Herb Alpert. Given that he will be performing May 20 in our backyard at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, I thought you might enjoy this.
The numbers alone are staggering. One hundred million albums sold. Eight Grammys. Recipient of Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Thirteen million records sold in 1966. Four albums in the top 10 simultaneously. Top 10 singles in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. Five No. 1 singles.
And who could ever forget Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass?”

I recently had the pleasure of seeing jazz trumpet legend Herb Alpert appear in concert with his wife, noted jazz singer Lani Hall. The pair is touring to support their latest album, “I Feel You” which is an evocative, lush, ravishing collection of standards.

The show took place at the famed Segerstrom Hall here in Orange County, a premier concert hall that was packed for the duo.

Alpert is of course vaunted for his Tijuana Brass days among many other major musical accomplishments, but this show was not a nostalgic jukebox. You got some of the older hits, but more than that, you got a hefty dose of modern jazz singing and playing that looked more to the future than the past.

Utilizing the same group onstage as they did on the new album, Alpert and Hall moved easily through a diverse musical landscape including Berimbau, Night and Day, and Let’s Face the Music and Dance.

Herb’s past came back in the form of the hits Rise, The Lonely Bull and A Taste of Honey, but again, the night was not about time machines.

Blending in some Cole Porter chestnuts along with Fever, Blackbird and some other familiar-but-maybe-not-so-familiar-when-rethought-in-this-inventive way classics, the pair & band thrilled the audience in a set that seemed to fly by a bit too fast.

Alpert took questions and comments from the audience as well, which allowed him to show off his low-key and humble humor that is as charming as it is refreshing.

The new album is terrific, the live show is stellar.

Don’t miss either, if you can help it (the tour is over for now but stay tuned)