Herb Alpert (Photo: Dewey Nicks; used with permission)
Herb Alpert has a busy 2024 ahead with tour dates to support his recent album, Wish Upon a Star, and an upcoming album, 50. Wish Upon a Star arrived September 15, 2023, just as the star resumed his fall tour with his wife, singer Lani Hall. He’s since added many concerts in 2024 and the tour resumes in July. The landmark new album, 50, marks a tremendous milestone in a storied music career that began over 60 years ago in 1962: 50 is the Tijuana Brass maestro’s 50th studio album. Listen to the first release, “Dancing Down 50th Street,” below.
50 also commemorates 50 years of marriage to Hall, their golden anniversary. The album is described as a mix of reimagined classics covered in Alpert’s instantly recognizable style, highlighted by The Chords’ doo-wop classic “Sh- Boom,” Elvis Presley’s “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” and “Baubles, Bangles And Beads” (famously recorded by Frank Sinatra, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Wes Montgomery, among others), and more. It’s available for pre-order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
“Dancing Down 50th Street,” one of his several brand new original compositions featured on the album, is an infectious dance track mixing the flavor of his Tijuana Brass days with a modern groove.
“East Bound And Down” from the 2023 album, Wish Upon a Star, found the legendary musician, artist, record label executive and philanthropist revisiting the buoyant, upbeat sound of the Tijuana Brass Band. It was written by Jerry Reed and is known as the theme song for the classic action-comedy movie, Smokey and the Bandit.
“I couldn’t get this song out of my mind after seeing [the movie] many moons ago……thought it would make a great instrumental,” says Alpert.
On Wish Upon a Star, Alpert’s 49th studio album, he explored songs written in different eras of pop music history, from venerable Great American Songbook standards (“On the Street Where You Live,” rendered as a bossa nova) to torch songs (a sultry “We’ve Only Just Begun”) to Beatles classics (“And I Love Her”).
Alpert and his partner, Jerry Moss, started A&M Records in 1962 as a home for Alpert’s Tijuana Brass projects, but within a few years grew into an unusually creative independent imprint, releasing landmark records by Wes Montgomery, Antonio Carlos Jobim, The Police, Joan Armatrading and dozens of others.
Related: Moss died on August 16, 2023, at age 88
“I signed the Carpenters to A&M,” Alpert says, recalling that some at the label expressed doubts about the wholesome duo. “I found them, and I remember the first time I heard them I loved them. They knew how to put songs across.”
Related: Our interview with Herb Alpert
Alpert celebrated his 89th birthday on March 31. He was reminded of another personal milestone in September 2023, when Taylor Swift made headlines for having four albums in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 charts at the same time, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by a living artist since 1966 when Alpert did so with Going Places, Whipped Cream & Other Delights, South of the Border, and The Lonely Bull.
Related: Our Album Rewind of Whipped Cream & Other Delights
Herb Alpert & Lani Hall 2024 Tour Dates (Tickets are available here and here)
Oct 08 – Folsom, CA – Harris Center
Oct 09 – Campbell, CA – Campbell Heritage Theatre
Oct 10 – Walnut Creek, CA – Lesher Center for the Arts
Oct 12 – Santa Barbara, CA – Lobero Theatre
Oct 13 – Scottsdale, AZ – Scottsdale Center for the Perf. Arts
Dec 10 – Nashville, TN – Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s CMA Theater
Dec 11 – Chattanooga, TN – The Walker Theatre
Dec 13 – Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theatre
Dec 14 – Metairie, LA – Jefferson Perf. Arts Center
Dec 15 – Houston, TX – Cullen Auditorium
2025
Feb 11 – Ft Lauderdale, FL – Wells Hall at The Parker
Feb 12 – Sarasota, FL – Van Wezel Perf. Arts Hall
Feb 13 – Orlando, FL – Dr Phillips Center Steinmetz Hall
Albert’s catalog is available here.
1 Comment so far
Jump into a conversationWe LOVED the 2020 Documentary, “Herb Alpert Is…” and have already rewatched it! What an amazing man!