Herb Alpert & Lani Hall Staying Creative Making Music, Art and Supporting Artists
Herb Alpert, iconic trumpeter, A&M Records co-founder, artist and philanthropist recently announced the five recipients of the 26th annual Herb Alpert Award in the Arts as well as the upcoming release of his reimagined single Slick, featuring keyboard great Jeff Lorber. Slick, which Herb co-wrote and originally featured on his 1968 album The Beat of the Brass, will hit the airwaves June 22nd, followed by a commercial release a few weeks later.
Click here to play Herb Alpert - Slick Featuring Jeff Lorber
When announcing this year's Herb Alpert Award in the Arts recipients, Herb said "You artists are the heart and soul of our country. If Police and Fire are first responders then artists are our second responders. We couldn't get through this without them." For more on the award recipients please visit herbalpertawards.org
While the pandemic may have prevented Herb and his Grammy-winning vocalist wife, Lani Hall from completing their US and Canada tour, the duo rounded out 2019 with ten nights of sold out performances at the legendary Cafe Carlyle in New York City. February 2020 took the band from Prescott, Arizona to California for three sold out concerts across the state. The status of future touring plans can be found at herbalpert.com. Never one to rest on his laurels, Herb has spent his time off the road creating new music, pursuing his passion for painting and sculpting and overseeing the increased support for artists in these uncertain times through the Herb Alpert Foundation.
September 20, 2019 marked the release of Herb's most recent album, Over the Rainbow which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums and Top Jazz Albums charts. The album features 12 songs including an original called "Skinny Dip" and a cadre of classic and well known tunes interpreted and performed in a way only Alpert can deliver. In October 2018 Herb released Music Volume 3 - Herb Alpert Reimagines the Tijuana Brass which reached #2 on the Contemporary Jazz Charts. His 2017 albums, The Christmas Wish and Music Volume 1, both reached #1 on the Contemporary Jazz charts, and Alpert was nominated for his tenth Grammy for his album Human Nature.
October, 2020 will also mark the introduction of the Herb Alpert Is...collector's box set featuring 63 songs and a hardcover book. The box set, a must have for any serious Herb Alpert fan, accompanies the new Herb Alpert Is...documentary by award-winning director John Scheinfeld. The documentary is set to be released early October and filled with a lifetime of rare footage, classic music and interviews. It serves as a reminder of Herb's impact on American culture since the 1960's as told by Sting, Questlove, Quincy Jones, Richard Carpenter and Billy Bob Thornton among many others.
A 2006 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Alpert’s extraordinary musicianship has earned him five #1 hits, nine GRAMMY® Awards, the latest from his 2014 album, “Steppin’ Out,” fifteen Gold albums, fourteen Platinum albums and over 72 million records sold. Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass propelled his sound into the pop music limelight, at one point outselling the Beatles two to one. In 1966, they achieved the since-unmatched feat of simultaneously having four albums in the Top 10– and five in the Top 20. Herb Alpert also has the distinction of being the only artist who has had a #1 instrumental and #1 vocal single. Billboard also listed Herb as #7 on their Greatest of All Time Billboard 200 Artists.
Two-time Grammy award-winning vocalist, Lani Hall, was the lead singer and “voice” of Sergio Mendes’ iconic group, Brasil ’66. She has the distinction of recording over 22 albums in 3 different languages: English, Portuguese and Spanish. She is also known for her recording of the theme song to the 1983 James Bond film, Never Say Never Again. She penned many English lyrics for the Brazilian songs she sang while with Brasil ’66, as well as throughout her solo albums. She is also the author of Emotional Memoirs, a book of short stories, fiction and non-fiction, with personal memoirs that lead the reader in to each story.
Through the Herb Alpert Foundation, Herb and Lani have dedicated their lives to philanthropy, funding programs that help bring creativity to young students and keep creativity alive for all the arts, for artists young and old, including jazz education and programs that teach compassion and well-being. May 2020 also marked the 26th anniversary of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts celebrating 130 awardees over the past 26 years. The fall of 2020 also brings the opening of the newly remodeled Harlem School of the Arts at the Herb Alpert Center funded entirely by Herb and Lani Alpert.