Anthology San Diego, Night One

[Mr Bill]

Well, I just got back form the opening night of Herb and Lani's tour and I must say it was a very different experience from what I expected! While I did not expect to hear any Herb or TJB tunes, we were indeed trreated to three...

But the highlight of the evening (aside from geting to meet the man and his Mrs. themesleves) was spending some time with Bill Cantos and his lovely wife Mari Falcone. They were very real and down to earth and I was happy to learn he's a San Diego native and that he and Mari share their faith in God with me. We talked at length about that, A&M fandom and how exciting it must be for him to be playing with Herb.

Musically the night kicked off with "Berimbau" and (forgive me I did not write down the tunes) procedded through a set of standards and "new" standards -- with their rendition of Bill Cantos' "Morning Coffee" being a highlight of the night. How exciting for him to be in a band with one of his musical idols (Herb) doing their own version of one of his compositions!

Other tunes: "Who Are You?" (another Cantos composition), "That Old Black Magic" (including a bit of "Rise" in the middle),

<interrupted -- I have to go to rehearsal for our band's Easter Service on Mount Helix>

MORE LATER!

--Mr. Bill

 

[Mark-T]

^^ Very cool- Isn't it great when you meet folks you admire and they don't disappoint you.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

MORE LATER!

Man, talk about a tease!


Capt. Bacardi

 

[Mr Bill]

Man, talk about a tease!

Sorry about that.

Anyway, I'll continue my review... I hear a lot of grousing about a lack of "the songs that made them famous" but that's not 100% true. As you see the list you'll understand what I mean. There were more "Lani-centric" classics than Herb, but then, Herb doesn't need to tour for his own bottomline.... He's doing it out of a love for playing (either for himself or his fans and with Lani).

They started off with "Berimbau" (a Sergio tune IIRC) followed by a tune from Lani's second solo LP -- "Happy Woman." This LP is a favorite of mine since it is sort of an "extra" 74/5 TJB LP as most of that band is featured on a proponderance of cuts. Plus it's not a bad tune!

I did not recognize the next song (called "Pararaio" according to Cherry Street's review -- Hey Cherry Street why didn't we meet each other? I was at the bar with my wife, about five seats forward of the obnoxious guy yelling to the stage).

Next was "Wild Is The Wind" from (quoting Herb) an unmemorable film of the same name. It was at this point where my wife, who has never understood my A&M obession, nor cared a whit for Sergio, Lani or anything other than "classic" Herb, leaned over and said, "Wow! She's got a great voice! Why hasn't she had a hit record?"

Next we got a "Herb & the band" solo... "Besame Mucho" which was simply (as Cherry Street mentioned) "stunning." Each of the band member got their obligatory solo. While drummer Shapiro and bassist Jiffrey proved to be outstanding on thier respective instruments, Cantos was the stand out. Whether that was because bass and drums are rarely capable of "lead solos" and the paino can serve as either a rhythm or lead instrument is open for debate... but given that Herb and Lani chose to highlight two Cantos-penned tunes (and give him back up vocals on several occaisions) speaks volumes for Mr.Cantos abilities as both a composer and performer. If this were the golden years of A&M Mr. Cantos would be "this year's Pete Jolly/Cat Stevens hybrid." Just my opinion, but... WOW!

Of course, Herb intoriduced the band and immediately followed that with the two tunes by Mr. Cantos: "Morning Coffee" and "Who Are You."

Herb then did a vocal rendition of "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" and made some jokes about is being the "chutzpah" portion of the show. But he did a good job (IMHO) despite Lani's occasional perplexed looks

A couple more songs I was not familiar with followed and then we got a Lani-era Sergio tune: "Night & Day" which was superb in this form. One can usually only imagine this tune oin the manner in which B66 or a big band may play it, but it was amazing to hear with only Lani, a bass, piano and drums (an occaisional trumpet noodling by Herb)

They did "That Old Black Magic" followed by "I've Got You Uner My Skin." This was a the one herb worked a few measures of "Rise" into and it really worked well. At 72, Herb has not lost his "arranger's touch."

Seeing the crowd reaction, the next song had a few measures of "A Taste of Honey" world into it which semed to please the crownd as much as "Rise" being worked into "Skin."

THere was one more song before they left the stage and came back for an encore medley iof Jobium titles, highlighted by "One Note Samba / Spanish Flea."

After that I spent some time talking to the guy at the bar next to us. He mentioned that Anthology may have great acoustics but the folks behind the bar and upstairs away from the stage are always loud and annoying, seemingly to be there for the food and friendship and oblivious to the performer. And since the acoustics work in both directions, you could definitely hear what he was talking about. I predict that whatever recordings come from this tour, little or nothing will come from these first two dates. Who wants loud conversations and clinking dished in a live recording?

So after the concert I was able to talk with Bill Cantos who (in addition to introducing me to Mari Falcone,his wife) helped get me to meet Herb and Lani. Herb has always come across as a shy person, so I felt very cautious in telling him how he was one of my creative inspirations. He was very friendly, though and seemed truly flattered to meet a fan. I could easily have launched into a "when is Shout!Factory going to..." barage of questions and such, but that's not me and it is surely not Herb! Lani was much more flattered and signed my copy of Sundown Lady. Iwanted to bring the 45 that had both Herb & Lani on the sleeve, but for whatever reason the G-L section of my 45 collection was AWOL and we were starting to run late in getting out of the house. But that 45 would've been the perfect autograph item!

Anyway, Mrs. Bill has now added Classics V 19 and Bill Cantos' Love Wins to her playlist and CD holder. Next I'll get her to attend when Sergio next plays Humphreys or one of the Indian Casinos in San Diego. Yes, Mrs. Bill is starting to understand my musical muse and inspiration! That makes me happy. She went from "why isn't he playing any TJB songs?" to "wow she sounds great and looks great for her age" over the course of the hour and a half set... Yes, I think Mrs Bill has the Lani/Sergio bug after 17 years of marriage!

For those of us who prefer Herb "unmuted" this tour will give you an amazing feature... Herb is using a two-bell trumpet that he easily switches from mute to no mute between notes. He kept asking the audience how it sounded. I thought it sounded great and he used the muted horn appropriately IMHO. At one point though, the mute fell out and he never picked up that particular horn again, sadly. It was really working for me (a muted Herb disdainer in the Past), though!

--Mr. Bill
and for those who are curious, yes the sunrise service on Mount Helix featuring my church band went very well. It's great to get to play marimba with other musicians to the glory of God again!

 

[Dave]

Sounds like you had a good time with the Miss's and I have yet to get any woman I'm close to (even my wife) bitten by any kind of Music Bug, myself...

Glad everything went well with your "Praise Band", too!



Dave

 

[CherryStreet]

Sorry I missed you Mr. Bill. I was up front both nights at show time. That is the trick about 'Anthology' - find the sweet spots!

I think you and the Mrs would have liked Saturday's show better. They cleared out all of the patio noise from upstairs. Really looking forward to the two shows next weekend at REDCAT. Just drinks, no dinner service! I do like supper clubs though -- reminds me of "Old Hollywood." Yoshi's should be great also.

 

[Harry]

Sorry about that.

I did not recognize the next song (called "Pararaio" according to Cherry Street's review

Is "Para-Raio" perhaps the song that's on Lani's A BRAZILEIRA?

Harry

 

[Steve Sidoruk]

Yes Harry, it is. I think I like the newer take on the song a bit better.