Alpert brings horn, hits to return performances at Blue Note

In the year since Herb Alpert last appeared at the Blue Note Hawaii, the 82-year-old musician, songwriter and bandleader has been keeping a busy public schedule.

In July, he released “Music Volume 1,” a first-time partnership with Grammy Award-winning producer Jochem van der Saag. The album, which includes Alpert’s arrangements of “Unforgettable,” “Michelle” and “Just a Gigolo,” hit the top spot on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Album chart in its first week.

He followed that up with a series of performances and appearances, including a memorable September spot on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon, sitting in with Fallon’s backing band, The Roots, in New York. Fallon gushed over Alpert’s many hit songs, such as “Spanish Flea” and “The Lonely Bull,” and his theme music for “The Dating Game,” praising the composer for his positivity.

“I try to make uplifting music,” Alpert responded, looking relaxed and hip in a tailored red suit. “You know, we’re going through a strange time right now, in this country and around the world, and I want this music to elevate, you know? I like that feeling.”

SEPTEMBER ALSO brought Alpert’s second album of 2017, “The Christmas Wish,” orchestrated and arranged by Chris Walden. It’s Alpert’s first holiday album since 1968’s “Christmas Album” with the Tijuana Brass.

“After I finished the (1968) album with the Tijuana Brass, I was always thinking about doing an album with orchestra and a choir, and I found the right person (Walden) to do it,” Alpert said. “And the timing was right for me.”

“I’m in a very creative place right now in my life,” he said, calling from his home in Southern California. “I just love making music and I love recording and playing the horn, so it just felt right.

“I compiled a bunch of songs — there were more than probably 20 songs that I had to start with — and I whittled it down to the songs I like to play.

“As I’ve said before, if it’s fun for me to play, I think a certain amount of people will have fun with it, so it’s a win-win. I can’t do much to songs that don’t touch me.”

Alpert mentioned “Santa Baby,” originally a hit for Eartha Kitt in 1953, as one of his favorites. Another is the title song, featuring Lani Hall on vocals.

“Merry Christmas, Darling,” a hit for Karen and Richard Carpenter, is also a favorite. Richard Carpenter did the choral arrangements for Alpert’s recording. The two have been friends since 1969, when Alpert signed the Carpenters to his record label after hearing Karen’s voice on a demo track. (Karen Carpenter died in 1983.)

Alpert, his voice heavy with emotion, said: “I was playing it for Karen. Actually, I was trying to play it through her. I like that cut a lot.”

ALPERT AND HALL return to the Blue Note Hawaii for a four-night engagement that starts Thursday.

“The show that we’re going to do this year is different from the one we did last year,” Alpert said. “We’re bringing in a screen and we have some great footage of ‘Tijuana Brass Memories’ that people will really love.”

The Tijuana Brass is where Alpert’s career as a hit-maker began in 1962 with the instrumental “The Lonely Bull.” Alpert made the basic recording in his garage, overdubbing his trumpet using a pair of tape recorders and adding crowd cheers, and then hired Los Angeles studio musicians to do the rest. It was released by A & M Records — “A” for Alpert and “M” for his business partner, Jerry Moss — and credited to the Tijuana Brass.

“The Lonely Bull” was a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and Alpert put together a touring band. A string of hits, commercial and critical success followed.

In 1966, Alpert dominated the world of pop music, winning four Grammys for “A Taste of Honey,” the first track on his fourth album, “Whipped Cream & Other Delights.” Released in 1965, the album topped the Billboard 200 Album chart for five weeks in 1965 and for three more in 1966. Albums he released later in 1966 added another 10 weeks at No. 1 that year.

Alpert is also the only recording artist with a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart as a vocalist, with “This Guy’s in Love with You” in 1968, and as an instrumentalist, with “Rise” in 1979.

“I try to make music that’s fun to listen to,” Alpert said. “Art transports you. That’s why I love to play. I love to paint and sculpt, but I love to play the horn because when I play the horn, when I’m in concert, I’m in the exact moment in my life.

“I feel fortunate that I’m able to do this and make X amount of people happy with the music. That’s a great feeling for me. It’s a passion. I love to do it.”

Call it icing on the cake — or whipped cream — but playing is even sweeter these days for Alpert because he is able to work with Hall, to whom he’s been married since 1973.

They met when Alpert and Moss signed Brazilian musician Sergio Mendes’ group to A&M Records. Hall was one of two singers added to the group, creating Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66, which went on tour with Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Hall went solo in 1971, though the two often collaborate musically.

“I love her,” he said. “And we’re good friends. We were good friends before we got married and our communication is really open. I always try to look at it from her point of view before I go nuts with my emotions and that seems to work out.

“I make a point of telling her how much I love her every day, and telling her how beautiful she is, and how meaningful she is to my life.”