🎵 AotW AOTW: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass - SUMMERTIME

Which Is Your Favorite Song?

  • Hurt So Bad

    Votes: 3 10.7%
  • Jerusalem

    Votes: 5 17.9%
  • Martha My Dear

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • If You Could Read My Mind

    Votes: 3 10.7%
  • Darlin'

    Votes: 3 10.7%
  • Summertime

    Votes: 3 10.7%
  • The Nicest Things Happen

    Votes: 6 21.4%
  • Montezuma's Revenge

    Votes: 1 3.6%
  • Catch A Falling Star

    Votes: 2 7.1%
  • Strike Up The Band

    Votes: 2 7.1%

  • Total voters
    28
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MICHAEL HAGERTY:

I was afraid you'd say that.

Are the digital downloads popular enough to encourage Alpert & Co. to release the remaining albums on cd?
 
dragon53 said:
MICHAEL HAGERTY:

I was afraid you'd say that.

Are the digital downloads popular enough to encourage Alpert & Co. to release the remaining albums on cd?

I don't know. My hunch is that (and, gosh, I wish Herb had asked me :angel: ) the audience for downloads is younger and less familiar with Herb's work. Meaning they're really not familiar with and not likely to spend money on his less popular stuff.

They probably would have sold more CDs to big fans like the A&M Cornerites than they will downloads. And they'll probably interpret less than stellar download numbers as weak demand for the product rather than as having targeted the wrong audience and a rejection of an inferior technology by the right audience.

On the other hand, monster download numbers would probably be interpreted as a sign that CDs are unnecessary and that all future releases should be digital download-only.

But, again...that's just my hunch.

---Michael Hagerty
 
There's been talk of a Herb box set. I'd be willing to bet that the best chance for Summertime tracks on CD will be in such a set.
 
Just to chuck in my tuppence-worth, I always had quite a soft spot for this album (despite Herb's pants!). Sure, it's not the blockbuster that "Whipped Cream" and "Going Places" were, but I have no recollections of being disappointed when I bought it. Plenty of musical pleasure, and if perhaps short on foot-stompin' TJB belters, it's got plenty to enjoy, if - as everyone else has observed - being perhaps a little short. But by this time I was not unaccustomed to albums having 11-minute sides.

Would I buy a CD? Like a shot!!
 
The big problem, I believe, is to get the product out in the stores. Here in Scandinavia, none of the Shout! releases have been released at all. I have only seen them in some of the big stores in England,(HMV on Oxford Street, London), France (Virgin Megastore, Paris) and Germany (the Saturn chain). Smaller outlets don't have this type of "niche" products at all. This is the reason why I was doubtful in the first place that we would actually see ALL of the TJB albums released again.
I agree that a box set of the "rarities" is the best chance to see tracks from albums like Summertime, Just You And Me, Warm and The Brass Are Comin on CD.

- greetings from the icy cold and white north -
Martin
 
Gang: This thread is drifting off topic.

We don't know CD or digital release dates for any of the SUMMERTIME tracks at this point. It's a well-known fact that many here want those tracks released, but the machine will move at its own pace.

Please limit discussions here to the music on the SUMMERTIME album. Thanks! [Jotting a mental not to make myself follow that rule too!]
 
Mike Blakesley said:
Gang: This thread is drifting off topic.

We don't know CD or digital release dates for any of the SUMMERTIME tracks at this point. It's a well-known fact that many here want those tracks released, but the machine will move at its own pace.

Please limit discussions here to the music on the SUMMERTIME album. Thanks! [Jotting a mental not to make myself follow that rule too!]

Mike:
No disrespect of moderators intended, but availability and format of AOTWs has always been part of the discussion of AOTWs.

---Michael Hagerty
 
I don't know why we didn't do this originally, but I've added a poll to see what is everybody's favorite song on this album.



Capt. Bacardi
 
I voted for the title track, "Summertime", though early on when I first heard it, I preferred "Darlin'."

"Summertime" really grew on me over the years, particularly that opening bass line. This particular track has been available on CD for years on the now OOP SOLID BRASS disc.

Harry
 
I voted for Jerusalem. That song is one of Herb's all-time best, IMO. But I like "Summertime," "If You Could Read My Mind" and "Catch a Falling Star" a lot too. Just from listening to the way he is playing the trumpet, I can see why Herb would think this maybe wasn't his finest hour, but there truly is not a bad track here.
 
I went with "The Nicest Things Happen", mainly because I think it's one of Herb's better solos. "Summertime" and "Jerusalem" were closely behind.



Capt. Bacardi
 
I like the entire album, and as I’ve mentioned before in another thread, I have Summertime as the second album on my homemade two-fer with Warm.

Anyway, I’m very fond of If You Could Read my Mind. Just like Girl Talk on Warm, it’s a nice laid back song that I find very relaxing.

Mike
 
The song I voted for was "Hurts So Bad" and as the first track really starts Herb's sombre, melancholy mood off with a Bang...!

Second fav' is the Beatles number "Martha My Dear" in a fairly unusual setting and being such an unusual remake of a song...

My third has to be "Jerusalem" and nice how it was on Herb's Solid Brass comp. that I was introduced...

I have a good "soft spot" for "Summretime" and that is really what puts it in Fourth; it grew on me, after my initial thought was it was a lil' too much Big Band-ish for my tastes, though a fine Herb/Lani duet and Herb blows his horn in the right place...



Dave
 
This is one album I'd treat like a single, but my favorite track has to be THE NICEST THINGS HAPPEN. The song is so much different than anything the TJB had done before, and it has to be one of the best songs that Julius ever wrote. I know he wrote it in 1965, but Herb's take on it is so 'late '60's-early '70's jazz that it's really remarkable. The melody lends itself to that combo-style treatment so very well. It isn't really like anything Julius had ever written before,either.

I always felt that Herb was stretching his musical legs on this album...it's a departure from other albums, more introspective and personal, softer than other lps, as inventive as WARM, but with more of the original 'brass sound.

I have some downloads from this album, and singles, but I wish I had a copy of the lp...and some liner notes would be nice, minus the inane Josh Kuhn babble, of course.


Dan
 
I voted "Summertime", but there are a few others I'd place as runner-up for the second position.
 
Following Captain B's and Dan's lead, The Nicest Things Happen is my selection. I like what Dan wrote about the song -- it's a new direction in a new era...kinda like "post-TjB TjB" -- if that makes any sense.

Welcome to the 1970s!

-James
 
http://www.amcorner.com/media/SummertimeComp.mp3

Excerpts from:

1. Miles Davis/Gil Evans
2. Lambert Hendricks & Ross
3. Herb Alpert

Listen for the countermelody in #1. See how LH&R add vocals to that countermelody in #2. In #3, the countermelody becomes the melody, and Herb's scatting (first verse) and trumpet (2nd verse) are echoing the original melody.
 
One of the nice things about a TJB album is that everyone can find a favorite. And, if 12 different people are polled, there can easily be 12 different picks. That, in comparison to a typical album by other artists where it is fairly unanimous as to which one or two songs are keepers and the others are just filler.

Mike
 
I always liked this album. All of the songs have a strong melodic content, and it has a nice overall feel to it. It's so very different than any of his other albums.
 
I'm surprised at the number of votes for "Nicest Things Happen." It's a pleasant tune to be sure but not a standout FOR ME. On most of the TJB albums the famous "hit singles" get the most votes, but not here. Interesting! We'll see what happens when more votes come in.
 
I'm with Mike on my surprise for support for "The Nicest Things Happen." Normally I gravitate towards a "Julius" tune, but this one leaves me underwhelmed. As Mike said, it's a pleasant tune and fits with the album's character - but for me, it's just not a standout in any way.

I'd rank the album's songs here this way:

1. Summertime
2. Darlin'
3. Hurts So Bad
4. Jerusalem
5. Montezuma's Revenge
6. Strike Up The Band
7. The Nicest Things Happen
8. Martha My Dear
9. If You Could Read My Mind
10. Catch A Falling Star

Harry
 
Rudy said:
http://www.amcorner.com/media/SummertimeComp.mp3

Excerpts from:

1. Miles Davis/Gil Evans
2. Lambert Hendricks & Ross
3. Herb Alpert

Listen for the countermelody in #1. See how LH&R add vocals to that countermelody in #2. In #3, the countermelody becomes the melody, and Herb's scatting (first verse) and trumpet (2nd verse) are echoing the original melody.

Thanks Rudy - that's cool to hear the evolution of how Herb got to where he was on "Summertime". I remember bringing home the album and my Dad wanting to hear the old Gershwin tune done in Alpert style. When it started, he commented that it sounded nothing like the Gershwin tune he remembered until Herb's trumpet lead started.

Harry
 
That's really cool. I had no idea that any other recordings of the song had that countermelody. It's great how Herb was able to pick that "foundation" out of those old recordings, add his own stamp and make it his own.
 
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