Alpert says that settling on the repertoire for his current tour with Hall was simple: “I’m crazy about melodies and my wife is a fanatic for lyrics. I think a good song revolves around a great melody, and she won’t sing a lyric that’s not uplifting and positive. That marriage has been very good for us.”
Why would a man who sold millions of records, is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame dust off the horn and hit the road again at the age of 74?
“I love to play the trumpet,” says Herb Alpert from his home in Malibu, Calif.
Another reason would be his co-headliner on the tour and wife of 35 years, singer Lani Hall.
The two have a new album, “Anything Goes,” of songbook standards and Brazilian songs reinterpreted as casual, intimate cabaret numbers.
Over the years Alpert’s music has been described as light jazz, easy listening, pop, even Mariachi, but the man himself disregards such labels. “I think there’s one ingredient that separates all artists,” he says, “and it’s called honesty.”