Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass -- Going Places

 

Yep, that's the one. This is one of the first albums, Japanese or non-Japanese, that I ever got to hear as a little tyke playing around on the carpet. In fact, I played it last night on my TEAC for the first time in ages; the bass tones have gotten muffled but Herb Alpert's distinctive trumpet is very much intact. And for the first time in ROY history, I'll be talking about an album rather than a single although I will keep things to just a few tracks.

Trumpeter Herb Alpert and the Tiujana Brass has already gotten representation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" in the Reminiscings of Youth category for their provision of the catchy theme for the first "Casino Royale" movie in 1967. Even when I was watching the movie for the first time and heard the theme, I quickly figured that it had to have been Alpert with that puffy and breathy style of his.

Alpert and the Brass' "Going Places" was their 5th album released in September 1965, just a month or so before I arrived in the world. Listening to the album again last night naturally brought back a whole wave of nostalgia. The first track is "Tijuana Taxi" which is a good song to get acquainted with the guys. Knowing my brother and myself back then, I figured that we were giggling all the time to that bicycle horn blasting away.

The other really recognizable track is "Spanish Flea" which is a playful tune that has a close connection to that "Casino Royale" theme. Probably out of all of the tracks, it's the most famous one in pop culture since it was used as background music for the American game show "The Dating Game" and humourously utilized as the go-to song whenever a TV station had technical difficulties.

"Going Places" is also known as the Alpert album of cover songs and one of them is "Walk, Don't Run" that had originally been a 1954 composition by jazz guitarist Johnny Smith and then covered by The Ventures in 1960. I got really hung up on this song for a while not knowing that it was a cover version. Of course, being that young at the time, my musical vocabulary and comprehension were minimal to say the least so I hadn't realized that the Tijuana Brass wasn't just solely doing the mariachi thing; they were also rocking hard, like with this particular track, and jazzing it up, too.

My final track is "And the Angels Sing" which was originally recorded by Benny Goodman in 1939 as a jazz tune. This was also another favourite of mine for its breezy and easy listening style. Alpert and everyone on the band sounded like they were having a grand old time with this one. 

It was fun for me going down memory lane with "Going Places", and apparently so did many people when the album first came out. It stayed at No. 1 on US Billboard for six weeks straight. To finish things off here, I came across some poignancy when I was reading up on Alpert's biography and perhaps this quote could help those who are just starting out in anything and have gotten discouraged. I found it on Wikipedia but the original source is the April 2017 issue of "Off Beat".

All artists should be looking for their own voices. I went through a period of trying to sound like Harry James and Louis Armstrong and Miles [Davis]. And then when Clifford Brown came along, it was almost discouraging. The guy was so good! But I kept at it. I loved playing. And then when I heard Les Paul multitrack his guitar on recordings, I tried that with the trumpet. Boom—that sound came out. After I released ‘The Lonely Bull,’ the record that started A&M in 1962, a lady in Germany wrote a letter to me. She said, ‘Thank you, Mr. Alpert, for sending me on a vicarious trip to Tijuana.’ I realized that music was visual for her, that it took her someplace. I said, ‘That’s the type of music I want to make. I want to make music that transports people.

And of course, he did find his own sound. As much as Miles Davis has his own voice, so does Herb Alpert.

For this week's Japanese-to-American comparison, we'll go with some of the winners at the Japan Record Awards for 1965.

Grand Prize: Hibari Misora -- Yawara (柔）

Best New Artist: Hiroshi Wada & Mahina Stars & Miyoko Tashiro -- Aishite, Aishite, Aishichattanoyo (愛して愛して愛しちゃったのよ）

Best Composer: Hirooki Ogawa for Chieko Baisho -- Sayonara wa Dance no Ato ni （さよならはダンスの後に）