Herb Alpert Coming to Lincoln Center

Fifty years is considered a golden anniversary. It’s a number that resonates for good reason with Herb Alpert. A multi-platinum who has sold an estimated 72 million records worldwide, the California-born trumpeter released his 50th studio album, appropriately titled 50, in 2024. The prior year, he celebrated his 50^th wedding anniversary with Lani Hall, a former vocalist with Sergio Mendes’ Brasil ’66.

With so much going on, the 89-year-old Alpert hasn’t slowed down and is currently on the road with Hall in a tour that’s found the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer dusting off material he recorded with the Tijuana Brass.

This era represents the most successful phase of a storied and lengthy career that started in 1958 when Alpert recorded a single called The Trial, credited to Herb B. Lou and the Legal Eagles with Lou Adler. A restless, creative spirit who has also been sculpting for nearly a half-century, Alpert isn’t one to look back. He wasn’t initially interested in revisiting his Tijuana Brass days until he gave another listen to old hits like The Lonely Bull and Spanish Flea.

“I had no idea I was going to do [this particular material for this tour] until my nephew, who is one of our managers, said he always gets requests for me to play these Tijuana Brass songs,” Alpert explained. “I told him that was the past—I already did that. But he said so many people would like to hear it, and it’s a time when people can use positive music. I told him I’d think about it.”

He added, “I got the Whipped Cream & Other Delights album and everything else I did—What Now My Love and all those songs; compiled them into a list and started playing. I was smiling when I finished. It felt good. I said, ‘Man, I’m going to do this.’ This is my gift to those who changed my life because they appreciated my music. I’m doing this as a gift to them and to myself. It’s a win-win. I’ve got goosebumps just listening to that music, and I will share it with others so they can experience it.”

With Alpert’s 90^th birthday approaching on March 31, which will be celebrated on that date and April 1 with shows at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Los Angeles native continues to prove his mettle in the recording studio with 50.

Recorded in his home studio, this 10-song collection showcases Alpert presenting a wide array of covers, highlighted by his melodic horn playing. Notable tracks include a lush rendition of Elvis Presley’s Are You Lonesome Tonight, a mellifluous take on Antonio Carlos Jobim’s bossa nova standard Corcovado, a dreamy version of the surf rock instrumental classic Sleepwalk, and a modern, electronica-infused update of Duke Pearson’s hard bop gem Jeannine. For Alpert, the creative process emphasizes processing feelings over pursuing commercial success.

“It’s a joy to make music,” he said. “To tell you the truth, I create music for myself—that’s what I do. I have to do it for myself because I’m the best audience for what I want to hear and play and how I feel. I do it when I feel that a record or song qualifies to be released. I don’t have this master plan.”

Truly an artist’s artist, Alpert exemplified how creative individuals should be treated by co-founding A&M Records in 1962 with his partner, Jerry Moss. Although the duo stopped managing the label in 1993 after its acquisition by Polygram, he cherishes fond memories of working with The Carpenters, Cat Stevens, and Sting.

“Sincerity is why I signed The Carpenters in 1969,” he said. “That’s not the music I listened to, but it was real when I heard her voice and Richard’s ability to put it together. As I heard it, it was sincere, and man, did it ever translate after they got rolling? I love Sting. He’s brilliant, smart, and sensitive to others. Cat Stevens, for sure, is very original. I heard him with just a guitar and his songs, and he just knocked you out because it was all so intensely personal to him but so honest.”

When you ask Alpert what’s kept him going for so long, it’s as simple as losing himself in being creative, whether playing his horn or sculpting.

“I enjoy the entire process,” he said. “I have a method at home that keeps my mind alert and helps me maneuver through it. There’s something about it that gives me a thrill.”

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass will perform on March 31 and April 1 at Jazz at Lincoln Center, located at 10 Columbus Circle, NYC. For more information, visit jazz.org or call 212-258-9800.