THE BEAT OF THE BRASS: Comments and poll

[Tom]

Yippee! My latest batch of TJB c-d's has arrived. I buy 2 copies of each now and I've ordered by 2 Christmas albums by The Brass. I can't wait to hear Ninth, BOTB, and WNML. I have scanned through each of the albums and, to me, the pictures and stories themselves were worth the money. But, as a bonus I get the music. I've long sought pix of Herb and Nick Ceroli, & Bob Edmondson in the studio and now I have them. Call me sentimental but when I looked at some of the photos of Nick in the studio or performance shots, I teared up. Ya don't know what influence that one drummer has had on my love for music, especially jazz and big band. He inspired me to learn drums. The really special photo that brought tears was a picture,a 2 shot, of Nick behind his drums in the studio with Herb in front of him in the background making an conducting type motion to Nick.

I'm just excited. Thanks for reading this post. I think we all miss the little guy with the mustache sitting behind those drums.

Tom

 

[Maitlen]

I've listened to the CD re-issue of BOB many times, now, and am enjoying the album much more than I did in 1968. Only now do I realize that it's a strong album -- great original songs, and good choice of covers -- hell, I even enjoy Talk to the Animals," finding the vocals self-deprecating and good-humored. I love the instrumental break -- the whole band really hits it, and Herb sounds inspired. Overall, it's true that Herb's playing sounds a little "winded," but the rest of the band more than compensates. It's another classic TJB album that I've played every day since buying it on the day of release. "Slick" alone proves that Herb hadn't run out of ideas, or inspiration ... if he'd been able to take a year off after BOB (or WARM) to rest up, who knows what might have followed?

 

[ormandy]

Panama is such a cool tune.

 

[Chinese Sausage]

So many good tracks in this album. This Guy's in Love with You is my favorite. Even though Herb's vocal range is limited, it is a very good performance. Cabaret comes in a close second along with Slick (sound good).

 

[ormandy]

This is such a strong album, especially when skipping over
"Belz Mein Shtetele Belz" & "Talk To The Animals" occasionally.
I just love the way "Slick" sounds after "Panama."

According to the forum poll, This Guy's In Love With You, Slick,
Monday, Monday, The Robin, Panama and A Beautiful Friend,
would all be great on a “Tijuana Brass” anthology.
Herb and the folks at Shout Factory should get our opinion
on a essential collection.

 

[ormandy]

If the family chooses to watch another syndicated re run, I‘m out of there, and enjoying another TJB re-master. Fortunately, most of these albums clock in at 30 minutes or less, so I don’t really need to cut anything. Unless I get started too late. So, if there was one song I had to skip due to time restraints it would be, Talk to the Animals, of course. I usually skip it anyway.

If you had to skip one, what would it be?

 

[JOv2]

In many ways the composition and performance of "Bud" signaled an ending of sorts. It’s arguably, the first TjB original to non-derivatively evoke an earlier feel – in this case the western romance of What Now My Love. Additionally, it appears to be the first TjB performance in which Herb Alpert is not the central performer: the piece is an acoustic guitar feature – with the trumpets and trombone utilized only to provide recurring melodic support. It seems fair to suggest that TjB acoustic guitar was dominated by Bud Coleman through to Sounds Like; and when listening to “Bud” one can nearly come away with macabre-like feeling as the acoustic guitar, for the first time, is conspicuously different in technique and execution.

Relative to the previous 4 LPs, the spartan quality of Herb Alpert's Ninth guaranteed its follow-up, The Beat of the Brass, would invite a curious comparison. By the 4th song, it is evident the new LP is a step up from the previous submission. There are cursory differences between the two LPs that immediate raise one’s hopes! For instance, two of the five originals are by TjB members; in fact, these five compositions are so strong that they are arguably the finest cache of TjB originals to grace an LP. Another notable difference regards song length. BOTB offers 6 selections of at least 3:00 – undeniably a TjB first. HA’s tone is unquestionably in better form yielding a clearer more penetrating timbre, suggesting HA put more care into personal preparation and performance. Similarly, the arrangements are more developed utilizing the unique twists and turns (conspicuously absent on Ninth) characteristic of TjB music. A few selections even approach the exceptionality of GP/WNML/SRO/SL.

Given the look of the LP art – particularly the gatefold layout – one may have hoped that BOTB would’ve offered solo vehicles for the TjB members; and while its true the ensemble does stretch out slightly more than on Ninth, there are still no trombone or guitar features (for which one has longed – especially as these two instruments have been previously identified as standouts in earlier arrangements). Conversely enough, Nick’s drumming unexpectedly comes down a notch or two regarding its exuberance – possibly a result of his trading sticks for brushes on several numbers.

Monday. Although the weakest TjB opener to date, the song can kinda grow on you...but I’m biased having never been seduced by Herb’s own Dixieland + rock ’n roll fusion …then there’s the issue of both Pat and John playing unimaginatively on autopilot; nonetheless, one always has to credit HA for pushing on with new ideas even if they don't garner a gallery of thumbs up responses. Those chimes sure came out of left field. I wonder what John Phillips thought if it all?

Beautiful Friend. Sol delivers the first punch of a 1-2 knockout after a dismissive offering on Ninth (where Sol attempted to write a Bud Coleman-styled piece). A wonderfully inventive arrangement utilizing legato trombone, excellent flute improve (who dat?), that coolass guitar chord [C9 #11], and having Pat play a “doubletime feel” in the A sections make this one a standout. Aside from a false ending, the structure is surprisingly traditional for Sol [AAB ABA; A=16, B=8]. In the pretty B-sections, which recall WNML, HA displays the first audible signs of truly injecting some life into the horn since SL. He’s definitely putting more air through the horn and achieving a solid sound. This piece would make for an interesting vocal. A+

Cabaret. As stage show tunes go, HA at last delivers the goods! The Maj7 voicings are a nice unexpected release adequately taking the song off Broadway. Note how Nick starts out underscoring with brushes and high hat – but by song’s end he’s on sticks building the tension with a hard back beat augmented by a swelling 8/8 ride cymbal – climaxing with a 16th-note floor-tom burst. Nice job. (Nick is one hell of a pop drummer…like Ringo Starr, another unheralded drumming whiz who always maximized musical taste.)

Panama. For fans of SL, Julius’ cool song exhibits the look and fury of which post-SL-TjB dreams are made...(a glimpse into what a TjB album may have been like filled track-after-track of similarly authoritative songs -- all that’s missing is the allocated solo space for guitar and trombone). Nonetheless, as it stands, Panama is a unique TjB piece – easily the most progressive composition on BOTB. Dig Bob’s basement drop to catch that low note – now there’s an embouchure, baby! The conga is an unexpected new sound; listen also for the harmon-trumpet mixed down in the ensemble passages and during the C --> A releases. Although the song halts during the C --> A release, it’s definitely a groove song – the second TjB groove song (Bo-Bo being the first). It’s ABC ABC [A, B = 8; C = 12] with vamps placed here and there. The song also possesses a good bit of knowledge that may be valuable for the next episode of A&M Corner TjB Trivia Challenge Cup: Name the only TjB song in which a gong is central to the arrangement. A+

Home Town. Was wondering how long it’d take HA to get around to playing a tune from the old country. (Would be great in a Woody Allen flick – with Woody dressed up as the Rabbi Zachariah Levitz-Goldstein.) This one comes off like a Nuevo SOTB piece. Herb’s clear tone is a massive improvement over the muffled, hesitant sounds of Ninth. In fact, his playing here – as on much of the LP – carries an authoritative quality…a whole universe away from Ninth. Herb takes a rare “improve” solo, too. That’s the Rabbi Zachariah Levitz-Goldstein on backing vocal.

Animals. Actually, this is not a bad song; but unlike Cabaret, this one’s best left very much on B’dway and in the hands of a vocalist/stage performer like Sammy Davis Jr, (who delivers the “definitive” version of this near-novelty). Unfortunately, the TjB arrangement is essentially hideous in its cutesy factor – and probably occupies the nadir slot of “Herb, what were you thinking?” TjB songs.

Slick. Cap’n D made a believer out of me on this one. Never really used to like it…and I still have problems with Nick and Pat not driving it more (as a jazz combo would; yet, it’s hard to “drive” the 8/8 shuffle pattern Nick is playing); I could also do without the trite opening big band “fall”. Otherwise, it’d be a good LP opener as the melody and arrangement are catchy. Who’s on tenor sax? If yer keeping count this would then be the 3rd “in the pocket” TjB song! The video’s cool, too.

She Touched Me. [Oh, really…where?]. Sol, resident (and exclusive) TjB songwriting ace gets the KO with this superb composition. This is pure Sol – bursting with the tension and release that recalls earlier works like More and More Amor and Adios, Mi Corazon. In the CD liner notes, HA mentions the “happy/sad” quality of the song (much of Sol’s work employs half-step major/minor juxtapositions). Dig how HA gets fired up on the B section – particularly the last one. His tone is full and brassy. He’s putting air through the horn like on GP! (Yea!) The song structure is an interesting study: AA’B A’BC [A=16, A’=14 B=10, C=8]. A+

Memory. No thanks...

The Robin. Ah, and here we have the Pisano counterpart to Panama. Like all great pop music – the piece is deceptively simple providing a fine workout for Herb. This one probably gets the TjB crown for most key changes in one song! (This arrangement definitely took some time to work up.) This also makes a great LP closer with the perfect flute coda. (Though it’s still another mystery why - with the exception of his first TjB offering, Felicia - all of John’s subsequent songs never spotlight his guitar.) A+

This Guy. Probably more has been written about Herb’s vocal contribution than any other piece on BOTB. Suffice it to say, the singing is competent enough as a one-shot novelty; and given the “lyric content”-to-“singer vocal quality” match, it seems to work…to some degree. Unfortunately, in providing a fantasy for thousands of bored 30-something housewives, he surely alienated many male fans (my pop, for instance) who just could not identify with either the song or its performance. Regrettably, this is HA’s first genuine excursion into the world of elevator music. Those melodramatic strings nearly peg the schmaltzometer and girlie choruses make me wanna heave my Fresca all over my Banquet Salisbury Steak TV dinner (…with the peas ‘n carrots always mixed up in the apple cobbler). Yuck! Surely HA could’ve done better with just the TjB in tow (with Bob and Nick on backing vocals!). Then again, in all seriousness,….perhaps….the point here was to step away from the TjB.

The Beat of the Brass is a pleasant album principally important for its 5 excellent originals and Herb's first serious vocal excursion; it also exhibits improved trumpet playing and greater attention to arrangement detail relative to the preceding LP, Herb Alpert’s Ninth. Yet, while a significant improvement over Ninth, it neither re-captured the momentum of the !!Going Places!!–Sounds Like period, nor capitalized on the progressive “ensemble” musical directions as introduced on Sounds Like. Actually, though, two musical directions were introduced – though probably no one but Herb realized it at the time. Of course, knowing what transpired following The Beat of the Brass it’s easy to conclude that this LP is the final honest TjB LP – marking an end to a unique artistic era in American pop.

-James

 

[Mike Blakesley]

James - you seem to think Bob E. got short shrift on this album (and I guess he did in regards to solos) but there's arguably more 'bone on this album than most others. Check out his work on "Monday, Monday" and "Panama," where he's basically playing a duet with Herb. If anyone gets the short end of the stick on this album, it's Pisano - well, and Pagani, although piano was never a huge part of the TJB sound -- but he didn't even get to play the intro to "This Guy!"

I agree with you on TTTA...it was a comedy bit on the TV show and should have been left there.

I wonder if the flute and sax on this album were possibly played by Tom Scott. He worked with Sergio quite a bit not long after this was recorded.

 

[DAN BOLTON]

I wonder if the flute and sax on this album were possibly played by Tom Scott. He worked with Sergio quite a bit not long after this was recorded.

I always figured it was Bernie Fleischer, at least on the flute...


Dan

 

[Captaindave]

What I often find interesting is to find the time to sit down and play LB and BOTB back to back.

Compare where Herb was in 1962 and where he was in 1968. Consider how the sound, style, and songs evolved over that period with each subsequent album - how all this transpired parallel with the other musical developments during the sixties which were primarily based on vocals and guitars - how the concept evolved from a purely studio creation into one of the most successful SRO performing acts of that decade.

It was one heck of a time for everyone who was around...I grew up in the sixties - born in 1951 and graduated from high school in 1969. I often wish I could go back to "the day". Sometimes I do get frustrated with nostalgic sensibilities. At times, memories are great - yet sad. Where did it all go? Now, the big deal is Britney Spears going off again to the hospital...

 

[JOv2]

If anyone gets the short end of the stick on this album, it's Pisano - well, and Pagani, although piano was never a huge part of the TJB sound -- but he didn't even get to play the intro to "This Guy!".

Mike - Yeah -- Sounds Like was the only TjB to bring up the piano in the ensemble; but, on Ninth it was pushed back (or out). Lou's lack of participation on the vocal number fuels the notion that this was a Herb Alpert performance, not a Herb Alpert and... performance. I mean, like, where the France is the marimba?? (Although the arrangement calls for orchestra, HA could have seen fit to include his TjB members if he really wanted their participation...)

-James

 

[Harry]

I think that "This Guy's In Love With You" was essentially another Burt Bacharach recording with Herb providing the vocals and trumpet interlude.

I seem to recall that it's Burt playing the main acoustic piano part in the song, leading his "own orchestra" with Pete Jolly providing the signature opening electric piano chords.

Harry

 

[JOv2]

Good point, Harry -- If I correctly understand the story, the song was originally meant to be a TV-only performance. Do you think (or know) the details of why HA ended up singing THAT song? I mean, clearly, he liked to use his voice (it's in most of the TjB records in one way or another), but to cross the threshold into the realm of "serious singing" is something else again.

I understand Burt wanted Herb's trumpet for Casino Royal; I wonder if the same was true here.

(BTW, The Warwick version of This Girl's in Love With You is excellent; for anyone not particularly fond of the HA version, Dionne's version, though similar in mood, isn't loaded with the bombastic orchestral swells; it's tamer + it has more of a beat. Recorded in the summer of '68, it clocks in at 5:23.)

-James

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Do you think (or know) the details of why HA ended up singing THAT song?

According to Herb he had asked Bacharach if there was a song that Burt had written that he couldn't get out of his head, or maybe it never was recorded. Bacharach gave Herb "This Guy" and Herb loved it. He asked Hal David to change the lyrics a little to suit Herb. Herb claims that the vocal we hear was done on the first take.


Capt. Bacardi

 

[Mike Blakesley]

In Herb's words (from DEFINITIVE HITS):

I recorded "This Guy" for a television special that we did for NBC in 1967 called "The Beat Of The Brass." The director, Jack Haley Jr., thought it would be nice for me to sing on the show and I agreed if I could find the right song. I was in the habit of asking all great songwriters if there was a melody that haunted them that they had written or that had been recorded and felt should have been a hit. When I asked this question of my friend Burt Bacharach, he gave me a song titled "This Girl’s In Love With You." I fell in love with the melody and called Hal David to ask if he would consider doing some modifications on the lyrics in order to suit my appearance on the television special. He graciously agreed, and I flew to New York to be with him while he made the changes in the lyric which suited me and the show perfectly. The television show helped to make "This Guy’s In Love With You" the number one record in the country in 1967.

(Mike here again The song was always planned to be a part of the TV special but it's never been made clear whether its inclusion on the album was planned ahead or not. We DO know that the single was rush-released by popular demand shortly after the TV special aired.

 

[JOv2]

The song was always planned to be a part of the TV special but it's never been made clear whether its inclusion on the album was planned ahead or not. We DO know that the single was rush-released by popular demand shortly after the TV special aired.

Musical conjecture tells me it was not planned -- given both arrangement and style are drastically out of sync with the LP (so what song might it have bumped?).

On another note, the LP jacket song sequence differs from the listing inside the gatefold -- and neither reflect LP order. For a long time this one intrigued me...until I made visual comparisons against two other gate-fold LPs -- The Brass Are Comin', and Sergio Mendes' Fool On The Hill, both of which similarly sported a non-playing order song list on the rear cover. Subsequent re-evaluation of the BOTB jacket suggests the order was driven by graphic art considerations -- note how the song title lengths spatially complement Herb's position within the frame. Similarly, the slight re-shuffle within the gatefold probably occurred to promote a consistent word-to-word space allotment against the right-hand justification.

-James

 

[Harry]

I think the jumbled song-order on a lot of record jackets around the late sixties/early seventies was a symbol of the "free-thinking" aspect of the times. It wasn't limited to A&M - you'll find the phenomenon on many labels.

Harry

 

[david]

My favorite tune on this album was and still is "Slick" followed by "A Beautiful Friend." I just have bits and pieces of watching the television special so many years ago. However, I recall sitting next to my father and when "Slick" was performed his response was "That is the Herb Alpert I like -he needs to do more songs like that!" Just curious, did anyone ever hear "Slick" performed live? Did Herb perform it on stage?

 

[Captaindave]

Yes, I heard it live in 1968. They could really swing.

The big band fall off note at the beginning wasn't included and if my memory is correct, the song may have been abbreviated a little. I mean that the group may not have gone back to the bridge the second time as on the album.

It also may have been done in a medley type context - moving from song to song without necessarily playing the entire recorded versions. I call things like that "teasers." Enough of the song to get the audience reaction, but not always the repetition of song parts that might be heard on the recorded versions.

It is good to remember that Herb was a consummate showman and performer, and knew exactly what to play, how to sound, and how to present a show to an audience.

 

[RichardWarner]

"This Guy"'s inclusion in the album couldn't have been the result of popular demand because, like "Brass Are Comin'", the album was released in advance of the TV special. The single could have been released by popular demand, as "Cabaret" was the original single.

5th grade: I remember performing "Cabaret" on the trumpet in the school talent show just after it was released.

 

[Harry]

"This Guy"'s inclusion in the album couldn't have been the result of popular demand because, like "Brass Are Comin'", the album was released in advance of the TV special.

My memory is that BEAT OF THE BRASS, the album, was timed for public release right after the TV special aired on CBS. I remember getting my copy of the LP and playing it while the memory of the special was still fresh. It seems to me that if the album had been out earlier, I'd have gotten it sooner, and I know I never heard "This Guy's In Love With You" until I saw the TV special.

The ad says that the special aired on April 22nd, and the liner notes in the Shout! edition peg the album's release as May, 1968. If that's true then there was at least a week or two betwwen the TV special and the album's official release.

Harry

 

[Captaindave]

My memory is that the TV special aired in April, 1968.

This Guy's... was #1 in the summer of 1968 - don't remember for how long, but I am sure it was #1 in July of that year.

When I saw the TJB in early August, 1968, the song was a big radio hit, and the audience of over 25,000 over a two night stand responded accordingly.