Melrose Elementary School Band

How charming!

Thanks, man. I was always curious about this 45 -- now I know: a musical joke from Herb. (Both sides are timed at 1:50 -- as a gag, I wonder if the same selection was on the flip side.)
 
Last edited:
How charming!

Thanks, man. I was always curious about this 45 -- now I know: a musical joke from Herb. (Both sides are timed at 1:50 -- as a gag, I wonder if the same selection was on the flip side.)

I don't own the single, but it shows Scott Turner wrote that one. It would, yes, be an incredible gag if both sides were the same. 😁

Maybe @badazz can tell us if this was his first single... 😇
 
Here are some earlier posts.




According to the 45cat website, A&M #738 was released JUN1964 -- which places it before SOTB. It's interesting to see that Herb and Jerry had the discretion to issue a throwaway single like this prior to the financial rewards that would come there way the following year. I would say it aligns with what Harry once said about JYAM: "it's the kind of thing one can do when one owns a record company". From what I've read and what is now more obvious on subsequent listens, the bad trumpet playing is not Herb; rather, Herb is trading the melody off with Randy Curtis (a relative) who sounds like a young trumpeter taking up the instrument.

Of more importance is that lack of post-production on Herb's horn, which gives us keen insight into his unique articulation. The principal technical nuances are present front-and-center that would later define his famous '60s TjB work. "The Herb Alpert curse" my college trumpet prof remarked...who then spent the better part of two semesters removing those fully ingrained elements from my playing. My prof explained that Herb used an unconventional "bell-shaped" attack to the notes -- like a moderate sforzando -- but this comes at the unfortunate expense of a fuller-supported tone. I recall Captaindave writing that Herb told him in '68 that trumpeters need to find their own unique style. Herb surely did and one hears it no better than on this novelty single.

Still want to hear the flip.

Thanks again, abstract_fan, for this intgeresting post.
 
From what I've read and what is now more obvious on subsequent listens, the bad trumpet playing is not Herb; rather, Herb is trading the melody off with Randy Curtis (a relative) who sounds like a young trumpeter taking up the instrument.
We only know one relative of Herb's named Randy who would have been at a young trumpet playing age back then. 😉
 
From what I've read and what is now more obvious on subsequent listens, the bad trumpet playing is not Herb; rather, Herb is trading the melody off with Randy Curtis (a relative) who sounds like a young trumpeter taking up the instrument.
That's what I'm hearing. It probably supposed to suggest a "teacher" playing the first phrase, then the "pupil" answering back.
 
Oh, and judging by the matrix number, "The Pupil" would be the "B" side of the single.
 
The prior single on the label, (737), belonged to The Canadian Sweethearts with "Rocky Mountain Special".

1632001200022.png
 
Back
Top Bottom