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 Brilliant Balancing Act
Herb Alpert and Lani Hall preview their first new project for Concord at Vibrato: Legendary trumpeter and bandleader Herb Alpert and his wife, internationally renowned singer Lani Hall performed April 1st and 2nd at Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Grill Jazz…etc. as a prelude to their new Concord Records debut Anything Goes to be released August 18th 2009. Anything Goes marks their first entire project recorded together. Both performances sold out within 2 hours. The material is an unusually eclectic mix of brilliantly reworked American standards and jazz, Brazilian samba and bossa nova classics, new original works, vocals and instrumentals, all shaped into a balanced, complete musical and emotional experience by a unique creative vision and sublime arrangement. The show also included a touch of humor, romance and nostalgia. The team includes
outstanding musicians Bill Cantos on piano (he also sings and
composes), Hussain Jiffry on bass, and
Michael Shapiro on drums,
along with headliners Herb and Lani. They were in fine form:
Lani Hall, sounding as great as ever, displayed her dazzling vocal talents, nuanced, powerful dynamics and seasoned dramatic delivery, expertly balancing emotional connection with the songs and with her audience. Herb Alpert’s comfortable virtuosity was evident throughout the show, as always. He prodigiously creates intriguing, fresh yet familiar vistas within his own unique sound, easily soaring over all the musical and rhythmic terrain presented by the richly varied material. His daring, intelligently conceived, expressive arrangements of cream-of-the-crop standards emanate from a heart of jazz, and his genius pervades the mix, deftly weaving together disparate musical elements and styles into a cohesive, magical experience. |
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| Herb Alpert’s unerring ear for what works and for musical quality is certainly among the many talents that helped him win 8 Grammy awards, sell over 75 million records to date, and produce countless musical stars in the last four-plus decades. | ||
 Spotted at
Herb Alpert and
Lani Hall’s sold-out show at Vibrato:
Sergio Mendes (who introduced
them to each other when Lani was singing with
Brazil 66); Hal David;
Billy Dee Williams; Steve Tyrell; Gregg Field;
Monica Mancini;
and
Murray Pepper (former Mayor of Beverly Hills) among the flock of
music industry and Los Angeles luminaries enjoying the heavenly
evening, starting with dinner in the gorgeous, intimate venue. |
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The set opened with a
beautifully realized arrangement of
Fascinating
Rhythm by George and Ira Gershwin, starting with a seductive,
jazzy, truncated bolero-cha rhythm, the opening and verses set in what sounds like an oddly
perfect 7/4 time frame. Boldly reworked with perfect musical
craftsmanship yet absolutely true to the song’s secret rhythmic
soul, this number establishes the creative tone for the show.
Lani’s renowned ability to sing in other languages sans accent shines in Brazilian composer Djavan’s Para Raio, a tongue-twisting rhythmic poem that her powerful delivery transforms into an early tour de force. A personal favorite is the humorous, scat-like arrangement of It’s Only A Paper Moon by Harold Arlen, a syncopated, jazzy yakkety-yak between Herb playing a double bell Gemini trumpet (one bell muted, the other open) and Michael Shapiro responding on drums-- another delicious balancing act! Irving Berlin’s depression-era Let’s Face The Music & Dance was completely stripped down to its lush core, which revealed a strange, moody, dark, vein and suggested a spiritual kinship to Brecht/Weill and some of Jacques Brel’s work. Thoughtfully balancing knowingness with theatricality, and history with today’s headlines, the presentation elicited goosebumps. “There may be trouble ahead”…
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 Perhaps the most
revolutionary interpretation is of the familiar
Besame Mucho, written by Consuelo Velasquez.
This arrangement is a
thrill ride,
for pure kicks. Turned upside down and inside out, funk-jazz shot
through with cool, led by Herb’s funky, syncopated trumpet and
underpinned by the driving rhythm of clave—a forward Cuban
son
clave in 4/4 time, to be exact—reading as Bo Diddley (who brought
the clave to rock n’ roll), this slow-burning number is coolly
fierce.
These first impressions represent a quick, personal overview of just a small part of the brilliantly balanced presentation. There was so much more to enjoy, and it was all impressive, including Herb tenderly singing I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face, interwoven with a trumpet solo, into the end of which he casually dropped the melody line “you see this guy, this guy’s in love with you”… Balancing these may sound simple, but that amount of perfect pitch at every level is why Herb Alpert is a music icon. |
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So... was this delicious, star-studded night a fantasy? |
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| Just another night at Herb Alpert’s Vibrato… | ||
| Other memorable events at Vibrato this spring included an amazing unscheduled set by Stevie Wonder (see story here). | ||
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| A few of the noteworthy performances at Vibrato recently: Shelly Berg (visiting from Florida) burning up the place with his Trio, w/Tom Scott and Gregg Field; Estaire Godinez, a smoldering Latin chanteuse who is also a hot percussionist; drummer-singer-entertainer Willie McNeil's debut (see story here). Quincy Jones presented amazing young Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez, attended by will.i.am, Josh Groban, Quincy, Billy Dee Williams, Alan and Marilyn Bergman and many more; a Hunt Cellars Winemaker's Dinner with brilliant cult wine maker David Hunt (above) with music by the great Theo Saunders Sextet; phenomenal Arturo Sandoval's surprise visit to solo with the Bob Mintzer Big Band! | ||
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Vibrato this fall features:... scintillating Barbara Morrison Oct. 25th, the first U.S. performance of jazz pianist and Montreux winner Isfar Sarabski Oct. 26th; masterful trombonist Bill Reichenbach on Oct. 30th, original entertainer Tony Galla on Oct. 31st, unrefusable entertainment and his Il Padrino wines by Gianni Russo (from The Godfather) Nov. 2nd; hot Latin soul by Poncho Sanchez Nov. 3rd, fiery guitarists Strunz and Farah Nov. 10th, the rich sound of Bob Mintzer's Big Band Nov. 24th; Vibrato Opera Gala on Nov. 30th ...and more top entertainment all through the month. |
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| Make your nights more beautiful at Vibrato... | ||
scintillating material, arrangements and delivery, and the interplay
between Herb and Lani was genuine, sweet, and sincerely romantic.
By the eighth bar of verse
in Morning Coffee, with just a bass/percussion accompaniment to that
point, Lani had the audience laughing out loud with the
way she interpreted the clever
lyrics of this original song by amazing keyboard player
Bill Cantos,
one of two original numbers by him in this project. Both the song
and Lani’s subtly comic, almost vocalese delivery seemed to channel a bit of
Bob Dorough in a delightfully funny change of pace, again
illustrating the breadth of material presented.
