It only took trumpeter extraordinaire Herb Alpert 89 years to make his way to Chattanooga.
He and his beloved wife of 51 years, Lani Hall, almost filled the Walker Theatre at Memorial Auditorium on a frosty Wednesday night. They seemed as much in love as when they met at a time Lani was a lead singer for Brasil '66. That popular Latin band led by Sergio Mendes was the lead act for Herb's Tijuana Brass on one tour.
Asked how he wound up with Lani, he said he told other of his band members at the start of the tour to stay clear of Sergio's female singers as being "unprofessional." He said, "That cleared the field for me."
Backed by pianist Bill Cantos, bassist Hussain Jiffry and drummer Tiki Pasillas, Alpert mixed in some Christmas songs with many of the songs that pushed him to fame during his tenure leading the Brass.
He told of his No. 1 hit song "This Guy's In Love With You" - recalling the music was written by his good friend Burt Bacharach. He went to New York to have Hal David spend a couple of hours working on the lyrics.
Alpert had never done much singing, but he said this song was within his range and, lo and behold, it became a huge hit.
He noted several times, "I have a special talent, but I also had luck. You have to have both."
Buoyed by that hit, he asked the Bacharach/David team to come up with another that he also could sing. They came back with "Close To You."
Alpert said they were recording the song when he asked his chief engineer how his singing sounded. The reply came, "It's terrible."
He then passed the tune along to his friends, The Carpenters, and they made the most of that generous gift.
Herb handled gracefully the guy in the very back of the balcony with the continuous shrill whistle and hollered out questions.
He talked about the famous whipped cream album, saying the stunning girl was actually decked out in shaving cream. And she was pregnant.
Lani had her time in the spotlight during the show, including a rendition of "Seasons of Love" from the Rent musical.
The other three band members had the opportunity to showcase their remarkable musical ability and dexterity, including a surprisingly fine solo by Jiffry.
He told the audience, "These are not guys who find placing an ad in the paper."
Throughout the show scenes were displayed on a rear screen of a much younger Herb and Lani and their earlier band members. A favorite was a frenetic dance scene to the tune Putting on the Ritz that started out featuring Herb as a bus driver and ended with a scene in which he was the bar tender and Lani the customer. He said the video only required a single take.
Herb Alpert won't be stopping at 89. He informed the crowd that a 2025 Tijuana Brass revival tour is about to the launched.