!!!!4-Way Shoot-out!!!! TjB In-house Writers: Sol Lake vs. Julius Wechter vs. Bud Coleman vs. John Pisano

Vote For Your Two Favourites

  • Sol Lake

    Votes: 14 87.5%
  • Julius Wechter

    Votes: 14 87.5%
  • Bud Coleman

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • John Pisano

    Votes: 2 12.5%

  • Total voters
    16

JOv2

Well-Known Member
The four songwriters listed below were consistently successful in gaining regular placement of their songs on TjB LPs during the '60s/'70s period.

Select your two favourites and give us some insight into your choices.
  • Sol Lake (1962-71)
    • The Lonely Bull
    • Crawfish
    • Winds Of Barcelona / El Presidente
    • Marching Thru Madrid
    • Crea Mi Amor
    • Mexican Shuffle
    • Salud, Amor y Dinero
    • Adios, Mi Corazon
    • Green Peppers
    • Bittersweet Samba
    • El Garbanzo
    • More And More Amor
    • Memories Of Madrid
    • Cantina Blue
    • Mexican Road Race
    • Bo-Bo
    • Cowboys And Indians
    • A Beautiful Friend
    • She Touched Me
    • Marjorine
    • Country Lake
    • Montezuma’s Revenge
  • Julius Wechter (1964-75)
    • Up Cherry Street
    • Spanish Flea
    • Brasilia
    • Bean Bag (w/Pisano, Alpert)
    • Blue Sunday
    • Shades Of Blue
    • Flea Bag
    • Panama
    • Warm
    • Robbers And Cops
    • Julius And Me (also attributed to Alpert)
    • The Nicest Things Happen (w/Cissy Wechter)
    • Coney Island
  • Bud Coleman (1964-67)
    • Numero Cinco
    • Tijuana Taxi
    • Freckles
    • The Wall Street Rag
    • Miss Frenchy Brown
    • Bud (completed and/or assembled by Eleanor Coleman)
  • John Pisano (1965-71)
    • Felicia
    • So What’s New?
    • Plucky (w/Alpert)
    • Bean Bag (w/Wechter, Alpert)
    • For Carlos (w/Alpert, Ceroli)
    • Freight Train Joe
    • The Charmer
    • Slick (w/Alpert)
    • The Robin
    • Sandbox
    • Moments
    • Chris
    • Speakeasy (w/Alpert)
 
The four songwriters listed below were consistently successful in gaining regular placement of their songs on TjB LPs during the '60s/'70s period.

Select your two favourites and give us some insight into your choices.
  • Sol Lake (1962-71)
    • The Lonely Bull
    • Crawfish
    • Winds Of Barcelona / El Presidente
    • Marching Thru Madrid
    • Crea Mi Amor
    • Mexican Shuffle
    • Salud, Amor y Dinero
    • Adios, Mi Corazon
    • Green Peppers
    • Bittersweet Samba
    • El Garbanzo
    • More And More Amor
    • Memories Of Madrid
    • Cantina Blue
    • Mexican Road Race
    • Bo-Bo
    • Cowboys And Indians
    • A Beautiful Friend
    • She Touched Me
    • Marjorine
    • Country Lake
    • Montezuma’s Revenge
  • Julius Wechter (1964-75)
    • Up Cherry Street
    • Spanish Flea
    • Brasilia
    • Bean Bag (w/Pisano, Alpert)
    • Blue Sunday
    • Shades Of Blue
    • Flea Bag
    • Panama
    • Warm
    • Robbers And Cops
    • Julius And Me (also attributed to Alpert)
    • The Nicest Things Happen (w/Cissy Wechter)
    • Coney Island
  • Bud Coleman (1964-67)
    • Numero Cinco
    • Tijuana Taxi
    • Freckles
    • The Wall Street Rag
    • Miss Frenchy Brown
    • Bud (completed and/or assembled by Eleanor Coleman)
  • John Pisano (1965-71)
    • Felicia
    • So What’s New?
    • Plucky (w/Alpert)
    • Bean Bag (w/Wechter, Alpert)
    • For Carlos (w/Alpert, Ceroli)
    • Freight Train Joe
    • The Charmer
    • Slick (w/Alpert)
    • The Robin
    • Sandbox
    • Moments
    • Chris
    • Speakeasy (w/Alpert)
Man, this is Sophie's Choice on steroids! I'll have to abstain...the TJB as we know it wouldn't exist without all of their efforts.
 
Ouch. This one's gonna hurt!

Even looking at Bud Coleman. It's not like he wrote a lot, but he did write "Tijuana Taxi" which is arguably one of the top three or four songs that are instantly associated with the TJB the second most people hear them. (In the XM Radio days, the 60s channel probably played "Taxi" the most.) It's just such an instant feel-good song that I couldn't imagine not including it.
 
This was tough because they all are favorites but I voted for Sol Lake and Julius Wechter.because it seems they had the Lions share and were the most prominent it was Sol Lake's Lonely Bull that started it all and so it was only fair to vote for him and Julius being a charter member in the studio until Fandango and a official member of the touring group in the 70s and the brief 80s reunion and his many contributions etc too many reasons to list it seems
 
Sol Lake is easy to select: To my ears he's the songsmith that helped launch and focus Herb's unique musical approach from LB to WC&OD.
Of the remaining three writers: Julius' knack for uncommon and at times quirky melodies and chord structures helps to define GB to Coney Island. Bud left us too soon but, based on what's on the list his music is more limited in scope (relative to Sol and Julius) to what at the time was labelled the "dixieland" feel of the group: Freckles, which sports a free-for-all arrangement, is surely amazing but the others are not nearly as memorable to me. The song Bud is a different bag altogether -- leaving one wondering what he could have furthered offered in the solemn vein. Pisano wrote some very memorable pieces (Felicia, The Charmer); however, several are co-authored. He also wrote Freight Train Joe (which might ban him from consideration🥴).
 
I went with Sol Lake and Julius Wechter. We once assembled a one-hour YouTube of Sol Lake tunes that was just superb, and the Julius tunes can easily fit onto one good-sounding compilation disc.
 
He also wrote Freight Train Joe (which might ban him from consideration🥴).
I find that sometimes it's the arrangement, and not the tune itself, that makes me not very fond of it. I'm wondering if he ever recorded this elsewhere as a guitar piece, even under a different title.

It's just hard to narrow these down to two choices! Like you say, each of them has certain tunes that have always hooked me.
 
This is hard, but I seem to have voted with the majority here; Sol Lake and Julius Wechter. But I really like most of the Pisano tunes also, and So What's New was a big easy listening hit that was covered by many artists.

- greetings from the cold and snowy north -
Martin
 
Once this is narrowed down to two winners, it might be time for a head-to-head faceoff to determine the TJB's "GOAT" songwriter.
 
I don't have time to do it right now, but I thought of making a playlist (album) of Baja tracks named "Homegrown." All the tunes written by Baja members. I guess it could apply to the TJB as well, but I'd pick a different name for it.
 
I did make such a compilation of TJB tunes... It's one of my favorite TJB playlists. I called it "Written In Brass."

I would have to go with the apparent consensus and vote for Sol and Julius -- although, there are songs on all four lists that would appear on my list of all-time TJB favorites. If I had to pick one winner, I'd have to go with Sol, because although there are a few songs on his list that I'm not crazy about (mostly early album cuts), there aren't any that I truly dislike. The other three all have one song I don't care for: "Coney Island," "Freight Train Joe," and "Miss Frenchy Brown."
 
The other three all have one song I don't care for: "Coney Island," ........
There's one for my "it's the arrangement" argument--I remember hearing the song on that Muppets TV special, which I believe was before the album came out. That version was slower, and down a few keys--I really liked that one. The LP version always seemed a bit uptight in comparison, although Findley kills on his trumpet solo. I still like it, but preferred the earlier version that never made it to record.

"Written in Brass" is a perfect title, BTW!
 
did make such a compilation of TJB tunes... It's one of my favorite TJB playlists. I called it "Written In Brass."
Ich auch! My comp, however, sports the bland title, Assorted Originals.

(I also have Assorted Covers, Assorted Solid (which is my personal "Best Of"), and Assorted Lightweight (which is all the festive music).)
 
Tough choice. I'm thankful we didn't have to pick just ONE!

I seem to have gone with the majority. If Coleman (whose untimely death probably cut short many future contributions) and Pisano had more contributions than Lake and Wechter, it would've been even harder to choose!

--Mr Bill
 
I don't like having to pick out one or two, when all four have made memorable tunes. So even if I voted towards Sol and Julius, that isn't to slight the other two who have made contributions. As I said, the fact that Bud Coleman wrote one of the TJB's most recognizable tunes, "Tijuana Taxi," almost surpasses a half dozen tunes in my personal value than the other composers.

Such a difficult choice! 😁
 
I have always wondered how much the direction of the TJB sound was altered when Bud Coleman died so young. Besides the loss of his musical contributions, the Ninth album definitely has a different overall sound than the albums that came ahead of it, and the next one (Beat of the Brass) has an over-arching melancholy to some of the tunes, especially the Sol Lake ones.
 
... and the next one (Beat of the Brass) has an over-arching melancholy to some of the tunes, especially the Sol Lake ones.
I know that Herb sounded a bit tired on the trumpet on this one, and I think the well was running dry despite having an album's worth of tunes. The TJB had been doing essentially the same type of music since What Now My Love. So it's understandable that everyone involved could have been getting weary of the music. Not to say the music was getting bad, but like any artist, there are only so many ways to approach a song or arrangement. It's no wonder Warm happened when it did. 👍
 
Since my first two Herb Alpert TJB albums that I bought were Ninth and Warm, I have to pull for Sol Lake and John Pisano.
I really liked Cowboys and Indians from Ninth and Marjorine from Warm by Sol Lake. I voted for John Pisano on the strength of Sandbox from Warm. That is a truly great instrumental that is second only to The Sea Is My Soil from Warm. I would have loved to hear a Sergio Mendes/Lani Hall take on Sandbox.
 
Burt Bacharach was in house.

  1. Don't Go Breaking My Heart
  2. Casino Royale
  3. This Guy's In Love With You
  4. To Wait For Love
  5. Bell That Couldn't Jingle
  6. Promises Promises
  7. Close To You
  8. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head
  9. I'll Never Fall In love Again
  10. I Might Frighten Her Away
 
Thanks for providing the Bacharach/David compositions covered during the same timeframe; however, I didn’t include any of Burt’s and Hal’s offerings because, with arguably one exception, they didn’t write any of those specifically for Herb and the brass.
 
Sol Lake is the obvious first choice and I'll select Julius after that. Sol's output is just outstanding, but the other guys are great contributors as well. And it's interesting that the guy who wrote "So What's New" and "Slick" was also responsible for "Freight Train Joe".
 
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