Herb Alpert Announces '50' Album With 'Dancing Down 50th Street'
(MPG) Herb Alpert will mark an extraordinary milestone in his storied six-decade music career with the release of his 50th studio album this fall aptly titled 50. Out on September 20th, the album also commemorates another significant landmark as it celebrates 50 years of marriage to his wife, collaborator, and touring partner, Lani Hall, their golden anniversary.
Alpert shared today the album's lead single "Dancing Down 50th Street," an infectious dance track mixing the flavor of his Tijuana Brass days with a modern groove. "Dancing Down 50th Street" is also one of Alpert's several brand new original compositions featured on the album.
"I am fortunate to still be exploring and having fun making music," stated Alpert. "When I first started recording, I had a one-track wire recorder. Today I make music using digital recording with unlimited recording tracks. The one thing, for me, that has always remained the same, no matter one-track, two-track, or 100 tracks, is that it is ALWAYS about finding a great song or melody. A great song or melody recorded on one-track will always be a great song."
50 distills everything that makes a great Herb Alpert release, combining evocative originals and ingenious covers from throughout pop music history, with Alpert's unmistakable trumpet melodies leading the action. Many of the songs on 50 date back to the 1950s, including pop-vocal, rock'n'roll, and jazz favorites. It was the decade when Alpert got his start in the record industry, still a few years out from his career-making success with the Tijuana Brass, the young songwriter was learning lessons that helped him shape his signature musical voice. Integrating modern techniques into retakes of older songs is one of Alpert's signatures. His tasteful adaptability is part of what has helped keep him at the front of the cultural consciousness for nearly seven decades.
Alpert has continued to follow the innovations of newer artists while refining his unmistakable "less is more" style of trumpet playing and arranging. His recent work combines acoustic and electronic sounds while revisiting music across disparate eras of pop, including '20s and '30s jazz standards, Beatles favorites, and more, with periodic turns from his wife Lani on vocals. This combination of the vintage and the au courant continues to resonate with audiences; Alpert's last two LPs, 2022's On the Sunny Side of Street and 2023's Wish Upon A Star, peaked at #5 and #1, respectively, on the jazz charts.
Alternately playful and contemplative, 50 continues in the spirit of these releases, with Alpert offering his take on everything from bossa nova ("Corcovado"), Broadway-born standards ("Baubles, Bangles, & Beads"), surf-rock mood pieces ("Sleep Walk"), hard-bop tunes ("Jeannine") and Elvis hits ("Are You Lonesome Tonight?"). The originals scattered throughout 50 sit comfortably up against these indelible melodies from bygone eras, reminding us how many generations of pop Alpert's own compositional sound has endured through. In addition to "Dancing Down 50th Street," there's the bluesy and stylish "Where Do We Go From Here," as well as "Morning Mist," a dreamy ballad fit for a beach sunrise.
For almost three-quarters-of-a-century, Alpert has always had the rare gift of being able to reach the greatest possible group of people through inhabiting an inimitable artistic voice. He has maintained and reshaped his sound through constant practice, recording, and performing (he continues to tour internationally, playing dozens of shows every year). With his eye invariably set on the future, Alpert is already turning over ideas for multiple upcoming albums. The sentiment crystalizes how one of popular music's truest originals continues to find ways to connect and reconnect with himself and his audience. It is through his love of artistic kernels of inspiration-a couple of bars, a chord, a suggestive brushstroke-that seem to cut across time.
Track Listing:
01) Dancing Down 50th Street
02) Sh-Boom
03) Are You Lonesome Tonight?
04) Baubles, Bangles And Beads
05) Morning Mist
06) Never Too Late
07) Where Do We Go From Here
08) Sleep Walk
09) Corcovado
10) Jeannine
Tour Dates:
08/22-08/25 - Seattle, WA @ Dimitriou's Jazz Alley
10/08 - Folsom, CA @ Harris Center
10/10 - Walnut Creek, CA @ Lesher Center for the Arts
10/12 - Santa Barbara, CA @ Lobero Theatre
10/13 - Scottsdale, AZ @ Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
12/10 - Nashville, TN @ TBA
12/11 - Chattanooga, TN @ TBA
12/13 - Atlanta, GA @ TBA
12/14 - Metairie, LA @ TBA
12/15 - Houston, TX @ TBA
02/11 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ TBA
02/12 - Sarasota, FL @ TBA
02/13 - Orlando, FL @ TBA
02/15 - Augusta, GA @ TBA
02/16 - Charlotte, NC @ TBA
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