Liner Notes

Historic Concert Appearance

I attended the Wednesday, March 26, 2025 Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass concert at the Goodyear Theater in Akron, Ohio.

Yes, Herb is still touring at 89 years old. Yes, I was excited to see him again.

Obviously, I can’t can’t record the show. That’s why I’m going to do something the FM radio stations did when I was younger. After a show, they would play the entire set list in order. Sit tight. This will be a long episode.

So get ready to hear one of the most influential artists in music recording, art, and philanthropy in Volume 222: A TJB Concert Rewind.

Promised link for Lani Hall bio. 

Video Intro

Listen here or on my PodBean Podcast Episode page:

You can check out the video version here or on YouTube:

Credits and Copyrights:

The Lonely Bull (El solo toro)
Written-By – Sol Lake
The Lonely Bull (El solo toro) 1962

Work Song
Written-By – Nat Adderley and Oscar Brown, Jr.
SRO 1967

Memories of Madrid
Written-By – Sol Lake
What Now My Love 1966

Whipped Cream
Written-By – Naomi Nevillev
Whipped Cream and Other Delights 1965

Spanish Flea
Written-By – Julius Wechter
!!Going Places!! 1965

A Banda
Written-By – Chico Baurque De Hollanda
Herb Alpert’s Ninth 1967

Ladyfingers
Written-By – Toots Thielemans
Whipped Cream and Other Delights 1965

Lollipops and Roses
Written-By – Tony Velona
Whipped Cream and Other Delights 1965

Bittersweet Samba
Written-By – Sol Lake
Whipped Cream and Other Delights 1965

Mexican Shuffle
Written-By – Sol Lake
South Of The Border 1964

Tangerine
Written-By – Johnny Mercer, and Victor Shertinzer
Whipped Cream and Other Delights 1965

I’m Getting Sentimental Over You
(The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra cover)
Written-By – George Bassman
!!Going Places!! 1965

Love Potion No. 9
(The Clovers cover)
Written-By the writing team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Whipped Cream and Other Delights 1965

This Guy’s in Love With You
Vocals – Herb Alpert
Written-By – Burt Bacharach and Hal David
The Beat Of The Brass 1968

Tim Dom Dom
(with Lani Hall)
Written by Brito Clodoaldo and Luiz Joao Mello
Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 1966

One Note Samba
Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66
(with Lani Hall)
Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 1966

The Fool on the Hill
(The Beatles cover) (with Lani Hall)
Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66
Fool on the Hill 1968

Mas que nada
written by Jorge Ben Jor
(Jorge Ben Jor cover) (with Lani Hall)
Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 1966

Rise
Written-By – Andy Armer, Randy Badazz Alpert (Herb’s nephew)
Rise 1979 Solo

A Taste of Honey – TJB
Written-By – Bobby Scott, and Ric Marlow (Scott Cover)
Whipped Cream and Other Delights

A Taste of Honey – Solo
Midnight Sun 1992

Zorba the Greek
Written-By – Mikis Theodorakis
!!Going Places!! 1965

Smile
Written-By – Charles Chaplin, Geoffrey Parsons, and John Turner
Midnight Sun 1992

What Now My Love
(Gilbert Bécaud cover)
Written-By – Carl Sigman, Gilbert Bécaud
What Now My Love 1966

A Banda (Reprise)
(with band intros)

Tijuana Taxi
Written-By – Ervan Coleman
!!Going Places!! 1965

On The Sunny Side of the Street
written by Dorothy Fields, and Jimmy McHugh
Sunny Side Of The Street 2022

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

#herbalpert #herbalpertandthetijuanabrass #musicalmemories

Here is the Episode Script!

Thanks sweetie and thank YOU for tuning into episode 222 of Spinning My Dad’s Vinyl.

Well, if you’re watching the video version of this episode you can already tell it’s going to be special.

I am recording this intro Wednesday, March 26, 2025 and we are here at the Goodyear Theater in Akron, Ohio to see Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.

Yes, Herb is still touring at 89 years old. And from what I’ve seen in videos from early in this tour, he still sounds great.

Yes, I’m excited to see him again.

I saw a version of the TJB in the 1980s with my parents at Blossom Music Center.

Karen and I saw Herb and Lani Hall a couple years ago in Cleveland.

She’ll be singing three Brasil ‘66 tunes, but the rest of it is Tijuana Brass music, with a couple of Herb’s solo tunes mixed in.

Now, obviously, I can’t can’t record the show.

That’s why I’m going to do something the FM radio stations did when I was younger. After a show, they would play the entire set list in order. Sit tight. This will be a long episode.

So get ready to hear one of the most influential artists in music recording, art, and philanthropy in Volume 222: A TJB Concert Rewind.

[Music:
The Lonely Bull (El solo toro)
Work Song
Memories of Madrid
Whipped Cream]

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass with the title track of one of the most famous album covers in music history, Whipped Cream.
Written-By – Naomi Neville
The full name of the album is Whipped Cream and Other Delights and it was released in 1965.

And other delights are the key to this album and the tour the TJB is on now. This album has the most tunes played from it. “And other delights” on the record represent all of the food-themed titles of the songs there. “And other delights” from the name of the tour represents the music that comes from artists other than the TJB. Herb’s solo recordings and Lani’s work with Sergio Mendes and Brasil ‘66.

Before Whipped Cream we heard Memories of Madrid
Written-By – Sol Lake
From the album What Now My Love released in 1966.

And Work Song
Written-By – Nat Adderley and Oscar Brown, Jr.
That appeared on the album SRO released in 1967.

And we started the show off with the first song on the first side of the first Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass album.

The Lonely Bull (El solo toro)
Written-By – Sol Lake
It was the title track of the album released in 1962.

OK…why am I doing what I’m doing for this episode?

If you are a regular listener of this show, you’ll know that Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass was the most represented artist in my dad’s collection. This band was most certainly a strong connection I had with my father.

So, when my social media news feed kept feeding me concert information, I knew I had to take this opportunity to see Herb one more time. Of course I knew it would be well worth the more than one hour drive.

I really think this playlist was well thought out. The way it flows and the music that has been chosen really encompasses the years of the TJB, plus includes the love Herb has for Lani and the importance he put on some of his solo work.

We will play a total of 25ish songs, so I want to shut up as much as possible. I’ll give you some of the highlights of the show when I think it’s needed, but I’ll let the music speak for itself.

Next up is a group of five songs that best represent that happy go lucky music we heard all the time around the house growing up.

[Music:
Spanish Flea
A Banda
Ladyfingers
Lollipops and Roses
Bittersweet Samba]

We started that set out with Spanish Flea
Written-By – Julius Wechter
That was from the album !!Going Places!! Released in 1965. A very busy year for Herb and the TJB.

Next up was A Banda
Written-By – Chico Baurque De Hollanda
That was on Herb Alpert’s Ninth in 1967.
They did a reprise of that song later in the concert in order for Herb to introduce the band. We’ll see the video of that.

Then there were three in a row from Whipped Cream and Other Delights, also released in 1965.

Ladyfingers
Written-By – Toots Thielemans

Lollipops and Roses
Written-By – Tony Velona

And we finished it off with Bittersweet Samba
Written-By – Sol Lake

You have now heard the three TJB songs used in the popular TV show The Dating Game, which had its original run from 1965 through 1973.

“Spanish Flea”: Initially used as the show’s theme music.
“Whipped Cream”: Played when introducing the contestants.
“Lollipops and Roses”: Used when the winning couple was about to meet for their dream date.

Let me quickly show you my dad’s vinyl albums I am spinning for this episode.

Herb Alpert released 13 studio albums with the Tijuana Brass between 1962 and 1970. There were a couple more releases with the group scattered over the years with Bullish being the last one in 1984. I have that album and that’s the tour my parents and I saw at Blossom Music Center that summer.

This is the stack of TJB records my dad owns. There are 11 individual albums here, but he had multiple copies of three albums. In fact a full house Lonely Bulls over Alpert’s Ninth.

He had all eight of the Tijuana Brass records I needed for this episode:
The Lonely Bull (El solo toro) 1962
South Of The Border 1964
Whipped Cream and Other Delights 1965
!!Going Places!! 1965
What Now My Love 1966
Herb Alpert’s Ninth 1967
SRO 1967
The Beat Of The Brass 1968

I had to reach into my own collection for three of the solo pieces.

Rise 1979 Solo
Midnight Sun 1992

I also own Beyond, but he didn’t play anything from that one.

I relied on the internet for one of Herb’s solo tunes and the four I needed from Brasil 66.

ALL of this music was released on the record label owned by Herb and business partner Jerry Moss, A&M Records.

I think you can tell how important the TJB was to my dad…and to me.

Up next is a set of songs with a diverse feel written by some big name pop music composers.

[Music:
Mexican Shuffle
Tangerine
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You
Love Potion No. 9]

One of my favorite melodies no matter who performs it, Love Potion No. 9
(The Clovers cover)
Written-By the writing team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. They’re a pair from the famous Brill Building I’ve talked about in previous episodes.
That was from Whipped Cream and Other Delights.

The band really had fun with this one. Herb let all his musicians show off their solo styles. It was a nice long version of the song.

Before that was
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You
(Tommy Dorsey’s theme song)
Written-By – George Bassman
It appeared on the TJB album !!Going Places!!

We heard another tasty tune from Whipped Cream, Tangerine
Written-By – Johnny Mercer, and Victor Shertinzer
Mercer is a songwriter you’ve not only heard me mention, but you heard him sing in one episode.

And we started that set off with Mexican Shuffle
Written-By – Sol Lake who is one of Herb’s main composers at A&M Records.
It came from the album South Of The Border in 1964.

Herb stopped to tell a story about Sol and how they met. It was touching and humorous at the same time. In fact I see that someone posted that bit to YouTube,

Next up is Herb’s and A&M Records first number one hit.

The song was never intended to be released as a single. But when Herb sang This Guy’s in Love With You to his then wife on national TV, the studio got bombarded with letters and calls to release the song as a single, which A&M did just a few days later.

It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for four weeks in 1968. I also thought it odd that an artist known for his instrumental work created a number one vocal hit.

[Music: This Guy’s in Love With You]

This Guy’s in Love With You
Vocals – Herb Alpert
Written-By – Burt Bacharach and Hal David
Found on the album The Beat Of The Brass released in 1968.

It was a song written specifically for Alpert to sing during a TV documentary on the Brass.

Next we will hear four songs featuring the love of Herb’s life, his wife of more than 52 years, Lani Hall. She was the lead singer for Sergio Mendes and Brasil ‘66 who recorded for A&M records.

In past episodes, I have spoken in depth about Herb’s music, art and philanthropy. So I thought I’d take a moment to talk more about Lani.

This is from the Lani Hall Biography by Matt Collar on all music dot com. I’ll drop the link into the episode’s liner notes.

Vocalist Lani Hall, born November 6, 1945 in chicago, is a Grammy-winning performer, best known for her iconic work as the original voice of Sergio Mendes’ Brasil ’66 and for her collaborative pop, Latin, and soft rock albums with her husband Herb Alpert. With Brasil ’66, Hall garnered fame singing such classic hits as “Mas Que Nada,” “The Look of Love,” and “Fool on a Hill.” Upon her exit from the group, she made her solo debut with 1972’s Alpert-produced Sun Down Lady, followed by 1975’s Hello It’s Me, 1977’s Sweetbird, and 1979’s Double or Nothing. She also sang the theme to the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again, and won the Grammy for Best Latin Pop Performance for her 1985 Spanish-language album Es Fácil Amar.

Following an extended hiatus due to health issues, Hall returned with 1998’s Brasil Nativo and embarked on a series of collaborative standards-based albums with Alpert including 2009’s Anything Goes, 2011’s I Feel You, and 2013’s Grammy-winning Steppin’ Out. She sang on Alpert’s Grammy-winning 2016 album Human Nature, and in 2022 released her first solo album in over 20 years with Seasons of Love.

She has been touring with her husband for the last several years and sings a medley of four songs on the current Tijuana Brass tour.

Lani Hall is 79 years old.

The illness Lani has is Epstein-Barr virus, which can be debilitating. It causes excessive fatigue. But she came on stage, tenderly kissed Herb and then sang a four song medley.

I will play the full version of each song here.

[Music:
Tim Dom Dom
One Note Samba
The Fool on the Hill
Mas que nada]

Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 performing Mas que nada
with Lani Hall featured on vocals
written by Jorge Ben Jor
It’s found on the album Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 released in 1966.

Before that we heard a cover of the Beatles tune The Fool on the Hill
Written By John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Found on the album Fool on the Hill from 1968

There was One Note Samba
Written by Antônio Carlos Jobim
Another tune from Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66.

We began the four songs from Lani with
Tim Dom Dom
Written by Brito Clodoaldo and Luiz Joao Mello
Also found on Herb Alpert Presents

In 1979, Alpert released his solo album Rise. The title track became extremely popular because it was used in a scene on the popular daytime soap opera General Hospital. It rose to the top of the Billboard charts in October of 1979 where it stayed for two weeks.

There were several versions. The 12 inch dance version was very popular for club DJs. The 3:50 radio version which was the hit version. And the long album version which I will play for you now.

[Music: Rise]

There is the title track from Herb Alpert’s 1979 solo album Rise.
Written-By – Andy Armer, Randy Badazz Alpert (Herb’s nephew)

When Rise hit number one it was the first and still only time a recording artist has hit the top spot with both a vocal and instrumental song.

Next up, we’re going to take a little side trip. First, we’ll play what is probably my favorite TJB tune the way they did it in 1965 and on this tour.

[Music: A Taste of Honey – TJB]

There was A Taste of Honey
Written-By – Bobby Scott, and Ric Marlow (Scott Cover)
Whipped Cream and Other Delights

So here’s my little side trip that I hope you will indulge me on.

In 1992, Herb released his solo album Midnight Sun and I had grabbed a copy of the CD. On it is my now favorite version of my favorite TJB song. Give it a listen.

This is why I love music so much.

[Music:
A Taste of Honey – solo
Zorba the Greek]

From the movie of the same name there is Zorba the Greek
Written-By – Mikis Theodorakis
You can find that on the album !!Going Places!!

Time now for this episode’s interesting side note and it has to do with how much Herb Alpert loves seeing creativity in the young.

Here’s the story he told at the concert.

[Play video]

Next up, a song written by the silent movie star Charlie Chaplin.

[Music:
Smile
What Now My Love]

There was What Now My Love
(Gilbert Bécaud cover)
Written-By – Carl Sigman, and Gilbert Bécaud
It appeared on the TJB album What Now My Love in 1966.

Before that we heard Smile
Written-By – Charles Chaplin, Geoffrey Parsons, and John Turner (BTW…Charles Chaplin is better known as the silent movie clown Charlie Chaplin.)
That appeared on the solo album Midnight Sun in 1992

Well, I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you.

I remember all of these album covers from my growing up days in the house. Of course with the most famous being the three-month pregnant woman covered in shaving cream…yes, shaving cream. Otherwise real whipped cream would have melted in the hot photography lights.

And yes…Dolores Erickson was pregnant with her son.

I was so excited to see that Herb and the TJB would be within driving distance for me. And I am super glad I drove down to see him because you know. He’s 89 years old!!

Actually, the day after this episode drops is Herb Alpert’s 90th birthday.

The concert was everything I had hoped for. The set list was perfect. I loved how the video screens worked in photos and videos of Herb, along with album covers at appropriate times. Herb sure has had fun in his 90 years.

The most asked question I had was can Herb still play. Yes. He can. Obviously not as strong as before, but he was never the loud trumpet player with the soaring solos in the first place. It was always about staying within the tune and the vibe the band was giving.

Now, I will admit that his horn had a kind of airy sound on some of the softer pieces, but he was still hitting the notes.

Unfortunately he did forget some of the words to This Guy’s in Love with You…but so what. He even made fun of himself when he did.

It was a night of music and memories I will never forget and I know my dad was with me in spirit the entire show.

And of course, I will not forget the great guys he now travels with.

The musicians of the 2025 version of the Tijuana Brass are talented. I loved how they got to show off their solo skills several times throughout the show. But most importantly they had respect for the music. And it was obvious Herb has respect for them. Because he was constantly cheering them on.

So I’ll let Herb do the introductions.

[Play video]

Now let’s finish this concert rewind up with the encores.

[Music:
Tijuana Taxi
On The Sunny Side of the Street]

We wrap things up with one of my favorite jazz standards On The Sunny Side of the Street
written by Dorothy Fields, and Jimmy McHugh
That came from Herb’s solo album Sunny Side Of The Street released in 2022.

And before that is one of the most recognizable tunes by the group Tijuana Taxi
Written-By – Ervan Coleman
From the album !!Going Places!!.

And there you have all the songs in order from the Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass and Other Delights Tour show on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at the Goodyear Theater in Akron, Ohio.

So thanks for tuning into Volume 222: A TJB Concert Rewind

however you did. If you want more information about this SHOW, head over to spinning my dad’s vinyl dot com.

I’ll be back next week with all my skips, scratches, and pops

FOR Volume 223: Mancini Movie Magic

Until then,
Go with the flow my friends.