Opinions: most "iconic" TJB song?

I agree with you Harry I saw the videos on YouTube and I noticed that same situation with What Now My Love their tv shows and tv appearances are so fun to watch wherever and whenever you can find them
 
If anyone remembers the old variety show, The Hollywood Palace, the TJB appeared several times. One show was all A&M talent. My memory is getting bad, but I think Herb actually hosted the show a couple times. Speaking as a kid who usually watched since the adults were in charge of the only television, Herb's appearances vastly improved that show. :uhhuh:
 
If anyone remembers the old variety show, The Hollywood Palace, the TJB appeared several times. One show was all A&M talent. My memory is getting bad, but I think Herb actually hosted the show a couple times. Speaking as a kid who usually watched since the adults were in charge of the only television, Herb's appearances vastly improved that show. :uhhuh:
I couldn't agree more I saw those on youtube too and sadly I was either in the womb or a newborn at the time they aired but I wouldn't be surprised of my birth mother was watching them ( me being adopted it would figure lol) it could have set the stage for me being a fan who knows? But just a guess on my part and Yes Herb Did Host at least 2 of the episodes of Hollywood Palace he did bring much needed life to the show keep in mind at the time ABC was always The lowest rated network until 1969 when a certain Game show moved from NBC to ABC and turned their daytime schedule around and Made ABC the #1 daytime network for the first time ever for a few years. And some of their shows used Herb's TJB songs as theme music just a little extra tidbit for fun
 
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Wasn't that around the time that Herb won the Grammys for that song? That might have had to do with it, too.
 
The song I would pick isn't necessarily the most well-known tune by the band. My choice would be "Lollipops and Roses". It's got all kinds of elements that the TJB sound- catchy, fantastic arrangement, wonderful interplay between the horns, and the bass line is killer. I would then follow up by playing the "hit" version of the song by Jack Jones, just for comparison's sake. It's an absolute dirge, and the fact that Herb Alpert could re-imagine and re-arrange the tune into something completely different is so much of what makes the TJB records great.
 
I agree. And I would say the same about some other songs, like "Five Minutes More".

I suppose some Frank Sinatra fans may take offense, but I find his music boring. His songs just... walk. They walk when I want to run, they walk when I want to fly, and they walk when I want to raise my fist and yell.

When those drums go wild in Herb Alpert's version of "Five Minutes More" you wouldn't think it was a Sinatra song. I was very surprised when I learned that it was.
 
Aaron, thanks for cluing me into the origin of Five Minutes More... I'm still learning where a lot of the TJB songs "came from". And you're right, this thing walks and that's about it.

Speaking of Herb "re-imagining" things- this reminds me of the time an old girlfriend (a classically trained violinist) was talking about how much she liked the opera "Carmen". She described the storyline, and spoke about how compelling and tragic it was. I told her I was familiar with the music from Carmen, and played her the TJB version.

The look on her face... priceless.
 
I told her I was familiar with the music from Carmen, and played her the TJB version.

The look on her face... priceless.
I'm very curious to know what you mean. Did she like the TJB version? Dislike it? Did she laugh at it? Did she exclaim "Argh! They murdered the opera!" Or what?
 
My understanding is this opera is rather serious/tragic in nature, and the theme song is taken rather slowly. Hearing it played at a very fast upbeat clip, and then with the bicycle horn at the end... yeah, it was kind of along the lines of "they murdered it".

We had a running joke that whenever she played "serious" classical music or "serious" opera, I would often be familiar with the music. But being a vinyl collector of pop music, I would be familiar through some sort of rearranged means. I remember her playing a Rachmaninoff piece in an orchestra once... through my collection, I clued her into what the composition sounded like as a jazz piece.
 
Hearing it played at a very fast upbeat clip, and then with the bicycle horn at the end... yeah, it was kind of along the lines of "they murdered it".
I always thought it was supposed to sound like a car horn, referring to "Tijuana Taxi".

Anyway, I listen to a lot of classical music, and I hear classical, instrumental arrangements of Carmen much too often. I generally dislike modern rearrangements of classical pieces - most notably those that add a steady beat to a piece that didn't originally have one - but I lately I've been taking exception to quite a few such songs. Decades ago, back when I first heard Alpert's "Carmen", I was REALLY a purist, and generally took offense at adding a beat to classical music, but Alpert's "Carmen" amused me a great deal, and I laughed to imagine someone reacting to it by saying "They murdered it!" And now, after all these years, I finally hear about someone REALLY reacting to it that way. Heh.
 
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Yes, she certainly did react that way!

If you want to hear the worst of the worst, check out the "Hooked On Classics" series from the early 1980s. Classical music set to a bad 1980s drum machine. Talk about murdering...
 
To give someone an idea of the TJB sound, I would choose "Lollipops & Roses". Although Lollipops is not one of my 20 favorite TJB songs, it has a sound and feel that exemplifies what the band is all about.
 
See: ironically, like the group the TJB "paralleled" in the '60s (THE BEATLES), their sound *changed* over such a relatively short time..."confining it" to ONE moment in their growth would be a DIS-service to their talents.
I mean: no one would "define" the Beatles based-on I Want to Hold Your Hand(?); just as, likewise: to limit Herb/the TJB to, either, the Wrecking Crew recordings or the "Ameri-achi" ('62-'65) stuff...reduces them to sounding like a "lounge act" (to the uninitiated/casual listener) and ignores the fact that: THIS was once even considered "Progressive JAZZ" (by no-less-than VARIETY, in 1967).
I was just reading this thread for first time. My opinion is that "A Taste Of Honey" is the TJB's most iconic song, and that choosing a song for newbies would be something different. If I were to choose a song for a newbie I might choose either "Shades Of Blue" or "The Sea Is My Soil". I'm thinking that either of those two songs may perhaps have a less dated sound than some of the others.

I have a question that I hope this group can definitively answer for me. The touring TJB was formed prior to the !!Going Places!! album. How much did the new touring band actually play on the records going forward starting with that album? I've been under the impression that Herb continued to play all the trumpet parts (with the exception of the background trumpets on "Casino Royale", which was basically a Herb cameo on a Burt Bacharach recording), and that there was some combination of touring TJB members and Wrecking Crew members playing on the TJB albums starting with !!Going Places!!. To be honest, at times I'm not sure if I'm hearing Nick or Hal on drums. I might add that I do think Bob played most or perhaps all of the trombone parts and that John played most or all of the guitar parts. Beyond that, I've thought that most of the other parts were played by the Wrecking Crew. It wouldn't bother me in the least to find out that I have been mistaken about this and that the TJB (and Julius) were playing all the parts on those recordings. I'd just like to know for sure.

Thank you in advance for your help.
 
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I was just reading this thread for first time. My opinion is that "A Taste Of Honey" is the TJB's most iconic song, and that choosing a song for newbies would be something different. If I were to choose a song for a newbie I might choose either "Shades Of Blue" or "The Sea Is My Soil". I'm thinking that either of those two songs may perhaps have a less dated sound than some of the others.

I have a question that I hope this group can definitively answer for me. The touring TJB was formed prior to the !!Going Places!! album. How much did the new touring band actually play on the records going forward starting with that album? I've been under the impression that Herb continued to play all the trumpet parts (with the exception of the background trumpets on "Casino Royale", which was basically a Herb cameo on a Burt Bacharach recording), and that there was some combination of touring TJB members and Wrecking Crew members playing on the TJB albums starting with !!Going Places!!. To be honest, at times I'm not sure if I'm hearing Nick or Hal on drums. I might add that I do think Bob played most or perhaps all of the trombone parts and that John played most or all of the guitar parts. Beyond that, I've thought that most of the other parts were played by the Wrecking Crew. It wouldn't bother me in the least to find out that I have been mistaken about this and that the TJB (and Julius) were playing all the parts on those recordings. I'd just like to know for sure.

Thank you in advance for your help.
I think Herb used A mix of different musicians on the recordings to get the sound he wanted which did include some members of the touring group such as John Pisano Bob Edmondson & Nick ceroli as well as assorted studio musicians Julius played on All TJB albums from the beginning until the Coney island Album although He was uncredited until the second TJB group formed in 74 Herb has repeatedly said that The Tijuana Brass was more of a Sound rather than An Actual Group. So There were some regulars on the albums including the Late Guitarist Ervan "Bud Coleman who was like julius was also uncredited on the albums and played on all the sessions until his untimely passing in late 1967. I hope this answers your question.
 
Yes, thank you! Your answer confirmed my thoughts, plus you mentioned "Bud" Coleman whom I had read a little about, but forgot to mention in my post. I've often wondered what it must feel like to be a full-time member of a touring band who is expected to yield his/her position to a session musician for recordings (which happens all the time for country bands who record in Nashville).

My apologies for going off-topic with this question. In my initial post in this thread I quoted someone else's response that mentioned the earlier Wrecking Crew recordings, and decided to go ahead and post my question here. Thank you again for your answer!
 
Yes, thank you! Your answer confirmed my thoughts, plus you mentioned "Bud" Coleman whom I had read a little about, but forgot to mention in my post. I've often wondered what it must feel like to be a full-time member of a touring band who is expected to yield his/her position to a session musician for recordings (which happens all the time for country bands who record in Nashville).

My apologies for going off-topic with this question. In my initial post in this thread I quoted someone else's response that mentioned the earlier Wrecking Crew recordings, and decided to go ahead and post my question here. Thank you again for your answer!
You're Very Welcome Glad I Can Help
 
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