Interview: Herb Alpert

Herb Alpert is a music legend.

As leader and trumpeter for Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, he had a string of hit songs in the 1960’s including “The Lonely Bull”, “A Taste of Honey”, “Spanish Flea”, “Casino Royale”, and “This Guy’s in Love with You”. Famously, in 1966 the band outsold The Beatles by a ratio of two to one. Musical success continued, including Alpert’s 1979 instrumental recording “Rise” which hit Number One in the charts.

Along the way, Alpert co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss – the “A” is for Alpert, and the “M” is for Moss. In addition to Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, A&M artists included The Carpenters, Cat Stevens, the Police, and Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66, whose early albums for the label were produced by Alpert and Moss. Alpert married Brasil ’66 singer Lani Hall in 1973.

Finally, The Herb Alpert Foundation was created in the 1980’s, and has provided millions of dollars to support youth and arts education in California and beyond.

This interview was for a preview article for noozhawk.com for the 2/28/20 concert by Herb Alpert and Lani Hall at the Granda Theatre in Santa Barbara. It was done by phone on 1/13/20. (Dewey Nicks photo)

Interview: Eric Johnson

Eric Johnson is a truly amazing guitarist. But while he certainly has the ability to blow you away with six-string flash and speed, he’s much more about feel, tone, and serving the song.

Such an approach allowed his 1990 guitar-heavy album Ah Via Musicom to become a crossover hit, selling over one million copies. This album included his signature song “Cliffs of Dover” and other gems like “Trademark” and “Righteous”. Other acclaimed albums followed, most recently the 2017 album Collage.

Johnson is revisiting Ah Via Musicom on tour, joined by Kyle Brock on bass and Tommy Taylor on drums, both of whom played on the original album and toured with Johnson after the album first took off. This interview was for a preview article for noozhawk.com for the tour’s 1/24/18 concert at the Majestic Ventura Theater. It was done by phone on 1/8/18. (Max Crace photo)