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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Herb Alpert still finds joy in the music

Jazz trumpeter Herb Alpert has plenty of accomplishments under his belt. With his backing band the Tijuana Brass, he scored a number of significant hits in the ’60s and ’70s, he co-founded the label A&M Records and has sold more than 70 million albums worldwide, including the iconic LP “Whipped Cream and Other Delights.”

Alpert will be performing with the Spokane Symphony on Saturday night, sharing a stage with his wife, Lani Hall, who was a singer in the original lineup of Sergio Mendes’ groundbreaking bossa nova group Brasil ’66. Alpert and Hall’s regular concert schedule consists mostly of small theaters and jazz clubs – the 1,600-seat capacity of the Fox Theater isn’t indicative of their typical venues – and the legendary musician says he enjoys the intimacy he now has with his audiences.

“I like the closeness of these little clubs,” the 80-year-old Alpert said. “I never had a chance to do that in the ’60s when I was playing with the Tijuana Brass. We were playing for 20,000 people, and you didn’t have the feeling of being with anyone. It was just kind of dark out there (in the audience). In that period, you’d just see people lighting cigarettes, or whatever they were smoking.”

Alpert and Hall have been performing with the same small lineup for the last 10 years – Alpert’s trumpet and Hall’s vocals are backed by keyboard, bass and drums – and their current ensemble will be coming along for the symphony concert.

“Not only are there great musicians behind us, but they’re friends of ours, and that’s very transparent,” Alpert said. “The musicians are free to invent as they go. It makes it more exciting for us. … It’s different every night we play, except for the medleys – I do a little Tijuana Brass medley and Lani does a Brasil ’66 medley. Other than that, it’s very inventive and of-the-moment. That’s what seduced me about doing these concerts. I love the immediacy of it. I get to be in the exact moment of my life as I’m doing it.”

Alpert hasn’t played often with a full orchestra, but he says the upcoming symphony show is going to be similar in spirit to the smaller concerts he’s used to playing.

“We’re not changing much, except that we’ve got an orchestra behind us,” Alpert said. “And that’s fun to hear every now and then.”

The notion of performing with a larger group of musicians was one that Alpert admits he was initially reluctant about.

“Ten or 11 years ago, when Lani and I were talking about maybe getting a group together, I thought it might not be fun for me,” Alpert said. “People are going to say, ‘Play “Tijuana Taxi” and play “Lonely Bull,” ’ and they’re going to be disappointed if we stretch out. But that has not been the case. I’ve found that by doing these concerts, I’ve not only satisfied myself and Lani, but we’re making a lot of people happy. They leave with a good feeling. I don’t think they really remember all the songs we play, but I think they remember the feeling they had when they first heard them.”

Alpert continues releasing studio albums at a fairly rapid clip. His latest, “Come Fly with Me,” includes original compositions as well as covers of Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies,” Duke Ellington’s “Take the ‘A’ Train” and the Beatles’ “Something.”

“When I’m recording, I’m very spontaneous,” Alpert said. “When something feels good, I stop. I don’t try to over-sanitize it. I think a lot of the fusion records we hear today are so clean and neat and perfect that the heart gets taken out of it. I’m very conscious of that. I learned years ago when I was privy to watch the great Sam Cooke record.

“Sam used to say, ‘People are just listening to a cold piece of wax, man, and it either makes it or it don’t.’ And I think he was talking about the spontaneity, the realness that we used to feel in the ’60s with some of those records. You could feel the sweat on those records.”

Although Alpert’s status as a groundbreaking musician has long been cemented, he has no plans to slow down. And like a complicated jazz solo, he’s still feeling his way through his career.

“I don’t have a master plan,” he said with a laugh. “I play most every day of my life, not to stay in shape as much as to feel good. I like the pursuit. You know, you never really get to where you’re going as a musician. You never get to that place where you say, ‘Hey, I’ve got it totally under control.’ Dizzy Gillespie was a friend of mine, and he used to say, ‘The closer I get, the farther it looks.’ And I like that.”