Herb Alpert
jazzed up from the man with a horn, the Tijuana Brass Band and funky tunes: "Doing what I feel for"

The later producer of artists such as Sergio Mendez & Brazil 66 and Janet Jackson has been giving the "A" to the record company "A & M" (Alpert & Moss), which he had founded with the trombone player, Jerry Moss. Both originated the easy listening sound Herb Alpert is famous for: The Tijuana Sound.

Herb Alpert & His Tijuana Brass sold 13.7 million records. They were successful in the charts with six top five hits both sides of the Atlantic in the 60s ("A Taste of Honey", "Lonely Bull", "Diamonds", "Spanish Flea", "This Guys in Love With You", "Rise", ) the latter two topped the US charts at number one. For more than 30 years he has been at the forefront of Latin music, selling more than 72 million salsa-soaked albums. But his rise to fame might never have occurred had he not gone to a bullfight in Tijuana.

Herb Alpert, launched his career in the early 1960s, long before his Tijuana Brass band became popular: Alpert worked for $33 a week as a songwriter for a small record label, scoring a number of hits. His biggest success at that time was the pop standard "Wonderful World" co-written with Lou Adler and Sam Cooke, performed by Sam Cooke.

Trumpet player Herb Alpert experimented musically and even attempted to kick-start his career as a singer under the pseudonym Dore Alpert. A wonderful tester of his singing capacity in "This Guys in Love With You" is a memorable moment in pop history. The single reached number one of the billboard and the UK charts.

But it was his visit to a bullfight that became the catalyst for stardom. "A bullfight I saw in Tijuana inspired me to reproduce the atmosphere and improvise on a tune I had in my head. I was trying to somehow connect the spirit (of the music) with that afternoon´s atmosphere, that touched me so much,'' he recalls in an interview. He gapped his trumpet and the result was "The Lonely Bull", a now Alpert and easy-listening classic. It launched Alpert's Tijuana Brass in 1962. This band became one of the most successful bands of that time.

After having produced this piece of music with his trombonist, Jerry Moss, they founded the well recognised label "A&M" (Alpert & Moss) Records one of the world´s leading independent record companies. Fine music was a result through the years: "Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66" with hits like "Mas Que Nada" and other South American favourites - now standards. "A&M´s concept was to look for the music that was not on the air at the time. We were trying to find things that didn't quite fit but had a chance,'' Alpert says.

That concept attracted the likes of The Carpenters, Peter Frampton, Supertramp, Sting, Bryan Adams, Amy Grant and Janet Jackson, to name a few whom he led to stardom.

The sound of the 70s changed his style: "Rise"  become the ultimate instrumental hit of this decade. Still his sound kept that touch of Latin feeling and atmosphere. But the albums were more funky and had a modern rhythm. What a wonder that Janet Jackson, which he was producing at that time, did not jump the train o record a duet with Alpert. But the former lead singer of Brasil 66, Lani Hall, did. There are several albums out that have not been recognised well, but are still worth listening to: "Rio", "Nobody Gets This Close To Me" and another James Bond Theme after "Casino Royal" in the 1980s. But the today forgotten "Es Facil Amar" won a Grammy in 1986.

Lani Hall and Herb Alpert are married now. The happy couple was photographed in 1997 (right).

By 1990, Alpert and Moss had sold the A&M label to Polygram (the later Universal). While terms of the sale were never publicly disclosed, Polygram was said to have paid about $500 million for A&M.

Alpert & Moss kept their Rondor Music Publishing company, which until today is releasing new artists. A "Portrait In Music" gathers some hits including the "worth-listening"" recordings by Herb Alpert on one double album.

Already in the 80s Herb Alpert started a new skill: painting. But now he had the time to concentrate on his new passion and settled down in Hollywood.

The results of his painting career show great skills. Some his works can be viewed at artbuy

He even came across the Atlantic to open a art gallery in the German capitol Berlin with his artist friend Peng in 1996. He had not been travelling without his trumpet. And so he provided some spectacular free jazz on the opening night. "That´s the way who I can express myself in the best way in the moment", he explains and quotes his friend Stan Getz who assured him not to play a single note that he does not feel. Now his style has changed once again. A sample of his recent work can only be found on the album "Second Wind", which he recorded with Jeff Lorber. It´s a fine collection of jazzy ballads and soulful tunes driven by a great groove.

While Herb Alpert, now in the 60s, slows down, he will remain an icon for fans of Latin music, although he is of Russian-Jewish descent. In 1997 he was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at Billboard´s Latin Music Awards.

"I don't want people to think I´m an imposter,'' Alpert told Berlin-Inside, adding that he had never planned to be become known as a Latin music musician. Alpert was just playing what felt right to him. With the release of his recent album, "Passion Dance" Alpert is once again crossing the roots of Latin and Jazz. "The timing was right and we felt we had accomplished everything we wanted to, and it was so large that it lost its personal touch for us,'' Alpert said.

"It started out in my garage with just the two of us, and all of a sudden we had four or five hundred people and I didn't know three quarters of them. We were not having as much fun at the end as we had in the beginning and the middle". Alpert and Moss started up a new label in 1995, Almo Sounds. Already that label has broken its first internationally famous act, called Garbage.

When he is not recording music, Alpert puts much of his energy into the charity work of The Herb Alpert Foundation, which he said is his attempt to give something back to a world that gave him fame and fortune. The foundation makes contributions to education, the arts and the environment. Alpert, who first picked up the trumpet at age 8, speaks passionately about the need for music appreciation classes in public schools. "Unfortunately, they don't have those programs in the public school system anymore ... it's unfortunate that doesn't happen today because music needs to be a part of what is education.''

In summer 1997 Herb Alpert came to Europe with a new band. He toured some cities and festivals: Hamburg, Berlin (was cancelled due to pour ticket sales), Nuremberg, the North Sea Jazz Festival. He opened the show with "Rise", a kind of signature, and closed it with the love ballad "This Guys In Love".

c 1997 for Berlin-Inside, revised 2001 for Euroshowtime.net