Herb Alpert

Human Nature

Octogenarian trumpeter rolls back the years.

Though not renowned as a jazz improviser, Herb Alpert’s trumpet sound, with its laconic phrasing, is as immediately identifiable as Miles Davis’s. He rose to fame leading Tijuana Brass, who racked up a stack of US hit instrumentals in the 1960s with their easy-on-the-ear, MOR sound. As well as being a musician, Alpert has also been an influential figure behind the scenes as a producer and record executive. This new album, with material ranging from bubbling dance workouts to romantic ballads (including a couple of Bacharach tunes), comes at a time when Alpert’s complete back catalogue is being resuscitated. It finds the 81-year-old blowing his horn in a contemporary setting comprising electronic beats, but despite the 21st century grooves, there’s no mistaking Alpert’s lean trumpet sound, whose essence is its unadorned melodic simplicity.