!Shoot-out! Herb Alpert/TjB vs. Pete Jolly (19701974): "A Song For Herb" (aka "Seasons")

Vote for your favourite version and tell us a bit about why you made your selection. (The selecti

  • Pete Jolly (released as "Season")

    Votes: 4 44.4%
  • Herb Alpert & The TjB

    Votes: 5 55.6%

  • Total voters
    9

JOv2

Well-Known Member
• Vote for your favourite version and tell us a bit about why you made your selection. (The selections are listed in release order.)


 
Herb all the way. I don't care for the whole sound of the Pete Jolly SEASONS LP, though I own the Dusty Groove-issued CD.
 
Parts of "Seasons" remind me of the Pat Metheny Group circa Offramp.
 
I don't like Jolly's at all but why not just keep the original title for the TJB issue? Song for Herb sounds like they couldn't think of a real title.
 
While I enjoy Herb's version, quite frankly I like Jolly's version a bit better. I don't know; maybe it's my "experimental jazz" side that kicked in but I like the synth sound of the song. Reminds me of Herbie(Hancock that is) and Miles' early 70s fusion works with Return to forever thrown in for good measure.

Also, while Herb's version is still a bit different from what he did in previous years with The Tijuana Brass, he still didn't show that many signs of major growth. He was still doing things musically that were holdovers from the 60s era, but putting them in a new coat lining, so to speak.(I have this album, so I know what I'm talking about) The songs that are the exceptions to what I'm talking about are: "You Smile","Dida", and of course his rendition of "Last Tango" with Quincy Jones.

Don't get me wrong-I really do like his music from this era(or any era of Herb's music), but I thought by that time period (which was 1974, I believe) he would be doing more experimental stuff. I believe IMO he finally abandoned the TJB sound with his duet albums with Hugh Masekela which led to the subsequent albums(Rise, Beyond, Magic Man, etc.) But every artist has their time where they finally evolve their music; it just takes TIME.

P.S.: Hey Rudy which part of SEASONS reminds you of Pat Metheny? I really don't hear similarities and I have OFFRAMP as well.
 
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As with many of these shoot outs I normally voted according to which I heard first and this is no exception I heard this as "A Song for Herb". Therefore i voted for Herb on this one I wasn't even aware of Jolly's Seasons until this forum made me aware of it. But it is a Good song regardless of the title
 
P.S.: Hey Rudy which part of SEASONS reminds you of Pat Metheny? I really don't hear similarities and I have OFFRAMP as well.
The synth (?) sound on that track reminds me a lot of Pat on the guitar synth, minus Pat's embellishments. Just something about that track that brought Metheny to mind when I first heard it.
 
I'll take Jolly. I like the melodic embellishments and the nimble tempo.
I really can't choose just yet. I like both versions.

I'm no help around here... 🤣

For instrumental versions, it's often interesting to hear what an artist can do differently with them as opposed to how others did it. This also makes me wonder if there are other versions of this tune out there--given the change in title, we'd really have no way of knowing other than to ask Roger Nichols himself as to who may have recorded it.
 
Jolly's version is enjoyable, but sounds dated. the fact that it was numbered into the 3000 series that started with CTi and evolved into "strange" jazz (Roger Kellaway, anyone?) shows how non-conformist this particular Jolly jazz outing was compared to the rest of his body of work.

So I voted for Herb's version which itself featured some of Jolly's finest accordian work...

--Mr Bill
 
I agree, the Jolly version has a dated sound. This one is Herb all the way. I've always wondered why it was called "Song for Herb." Herb is so unassuming and seems like he wouldn't really want to do that, but maybe it was the writer's idea.
 
I gotta go with Jolly on this one...Herb's version just doesn't move me. Listening to the Jolly recording, I can almost see leaves falling, wind blowing and rain clouds forming. Maybe it's the accordion and steel drums mixing with the mandolin, at least, trying to mix...Herb's effort just doesn't add up to much for me. It's like they needed something to end the album with, and this underwhelmer was all that was available. The group is obviously trying their best to make good, but the whole thing just kinda falls flat. Jolly's take has a lot of drive to it, and that's what the melody seems to need. Herb seems to kinda miss that.
 
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