Bringing his cool and laid-back vibration to Disney Hall’s golden circle of sound Friday night was Herb Alpert — leading a five-piece combo in a freewheeling but tightly professional rendering of the American Songbook.
The ever-handsome, now grey-haired Los Angeles homeboy interspersed jazz standards — Fascinating Rhythm, Paper Moon, Let’s Face the Music and Dance, Laura — with Brazilian fare, the expertise of his wife, singer Lani Hall.
Herb and Lani’s obvious love connection was only one of the evening’s soothing elements. Together they sang, arm-in-arm; from our seats behind the stage we could see Lani tap rhythms on her husband’s back. At one point, praising the mellow-toned chanteuse, Alpert said, “That’s my bride.”
Alpert has his own lovely, comfortable, and super-light touch on his horn. He has solid swing and gives off a good, colorful percussive sound. His wife, granting him all the space in the world, chimes in as his equal with swinging vocals, excelling particularly in the Portuguese patter that marked her samba and bossa nova days with Sergio Mendes — and ostensibly served as her main weapon in charming her then A&M Records producer.
The gorgeous, vibrant, sound-intensive House-that-Gehry-Built allowed Alpert to play sans microphone and also to sweetly chit chat with his fans as they called out from their seats. Modestly protesting when audience members requested Tijuana Brass hits, he went on to play a medley of them: Lonely Bull, Taste of Honey, Tijuana Taxi, Whipped Cream, Spanish Flea. All old friends! He proudly proclaimed the most important biographical fact of the evening: that he is a graduate of Fairfax High School.
Not one week later, we attended the gallery opening of Herb’s astonishing totem-pole sculptures. On display at Ace Gallery on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills.
arts•meme previously wrote about Herb and Lani’s magnificent philanthropic giving, focusing in the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles on a teenaged ballet dancer, one of the Alperts’ arts-education grant recipients.
photo courtesy of hank garcia
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