Pop Quiz: Herb Alpert and Lani Hall
Aidin Vaziri
San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, May 31, 2009
After 30 years of blissful marriage, Herb Alpert and Lani Hall are risking it all by hitting the road together in anticipation of their new jazz album, "Anything Goes," out this fall. Hall was the lead singer for Sergio Mendes' chart-topping bossa nova group, Brasil '66. Alpert is an iconic trumpet player who spent years as the leader of the Tijuana Brass and as a solo artist, winning seven Grammys and selling 75 million albums. He also was the head of A&M Records before venturing into a side career in fine art. They preview material from the new disc, which includes standards such as "Fascinating Rhythm" and "That Old Black Magic," Tuesday through Thursday at Yoshi's in San Francisco.
Q: The last time you guys sang together in public wasn't Miss Piggy involved?
Hall: Oh, God. Wasn't that cute? You know, that was the first time that character was introduced to the public. But we've done a lot together since then. Herb produced most of my solo albums. I've come out onstage and done two or three numbers with him whenever he was on tour. Herb is a fine artist. He's had shows all over the world. We felt it was time now to do something we hadn't done before. One was perform together and to do jazz.
Q: And you still like each other?
Alpert: More than like. It's more like love.
Q: How did you meet?
Hall: Sergio Mendes and his group auditioned for A&M records and Jerry Moss and Herb came to that audition. We were signed with the company and they thought the group would be a great opening act for the Tijuana Brass.
Alpert: That's when I was Mr. Alpert.
Q: Lani started singing "Fascinating Rhythm" when she was 3?
Hall: Yes, with Judy Garland in my living room.
Q: How did you pick the rest of the songs?
Alpert: I used to play these songs prior to the Tijuana Brass at parties and weddings. That's the magic of music. A week ago I was in a store and I heard a song that was one of the first R&B songs I ever heard. The minute the song started I transported myself to when I was in my bedroom as a teenager staring at the radio. For this record, we had a selection of maybe 40 songs like that, but we wanted the arrangements to be unique. We didn't want to just redo a song people had heard a thousand times. We were looking for a special way to present it. All the songs have their own personality.
Q: How did you narrow it down?
Alpert: Lani likes to sing life-affirming lyrics. That was the one ingredient we wanted. So if there was a song we liked but the lyrics were negative, we passed on it.
Q: Is that why Lani's rap album never came out?
Hall: Yeah, that's it.
Q: Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis did produce Herb's 1987 album, "Keep Your Eye on Me." Did you consider bringing them back for this?
Alpert: Well, it's not in their wheelhouse. I don't think they would understand these songs.
Q: Does it feel good to be playing again?
Alpert: Well, I started playing trumpet when I was 8, so I'm in the habit of practicing every day because I get enjoyment out of it. I love improvisational music. The basis of the group is that. It centers around her introducing the song in a certain way and everything behind her is of the moment. It's so much fun.
Q: By the way, can I have the phone number of the girl that appeared on the cover of "Whipped Cream & Other Delights"?
Alpert: I don't know if you want it now. But she has her own Web site if you want to look it up: Dolores Erickson.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/31/PKOM17MMU5.DTL
Aidin Vaziri
San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, May 31, 2009
After 30 years of blissful marriage, Herb Alpert and Lani Hall are risking it all by hitting the road together in anticipation of their new jazz album, "Anything Goes," out this fall. Hall was the lead singer for Sergio Mendes' chart-topping bossa nova group, Brasil '66. Alpert is an iconic trumpet player who spent years as the leader of the Tijuana Brass and as a solo artist, winning seven Grammys and selling 75 million albums. He also was the head of A&M Records before venturing into a side career in fine art. They preview material from the new disc, which includes standards such as "Fascinating Rhythm" and "That Old Black Magic," Tuesday through Thursday at Yoshi's in San Francisco.
Q: The last time you guys sang together in public wasn't Miss Piggy involved?
Hall: Oh, God. Wasn't that cute? You know, that was the first time that character was introduced to the public. But we've done a lot together since then. Herb produced most of my solo albums. I've come out onstage and done two or three numbers with him whenever he was on tour. Herb is a fine artist. He's had shows all over the world. We felt it was time now to do something we hadn't done before. One was perform together and to do jazz.
Q: And you still like each other?
Alpert: More than like. It's more like love.
Q: How did you meet?
Hall: Sergio Mendes and his group auditioned for A&M records and Jerry Moss and Herb came to that audition. We were signed with the company and they thought the group would be a great opening act for the Tijuana Brass.
Alpert: That's when I was Mr. Alpert.
Q: Lani started singing "Fascinating Rhythm" when she was 3?
Hall: Yes, with Judy Garland in my living room.
Q: How did you pick the rest of the songs?
Alpert: I used to play these songs prior to the Tijuana Brass at parties and weddings. That's the magic of music. A week ago I was in a store and I heard a song that was one of the first R&B songs I ever heard. The minute the song started I transported myself to when I was in my bedroom as a teenager staring at the radio. For this record, we had a selection of maybe 40 songs like that, but we wanted the arrangements to be unique. We didn't want to just redo a song people had heard a thousand times. We were looking for a special way to present it. All the songs have their own personality.
Q: How did you narrow it down?
Alpert: Lani likes to sing life-affirming lyrics. That was the one ingredient we wanted. So if there was a song we liked but the lyrics were negative, we passed on it.
Q: Is that why Lani's rap album never came out?
Hall: Yeah, that's it.
Q: Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis did produce Herb's 1987 album, "Keep Your Eye on Me." Did you consider bringing them back for this?
Alpert: Well, it's not in their wheelhouse. I don't think they would understand these songs.
Q: Does it feel good to be playing again?
Alpert: Well, I started playing trumpet when I was 8, so I'm in the habit of practicing every day because I get enjoyment out of it. I love improvisational music. The basis of the group is that. It centers around her introducing the song in a certain way and everything behind her is of the moment. It's so much fun.
Q: By the way, can I have the phone number of the girl that appeared on the cover of "Whipped Cream & Other Delights"?
Alpert: I don't know if you want it now. But she has her own Web site if you want to look it up: Dolores Erickson.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/31/PKOM17MMU5.DTL
