Herb Alpert & Lani Hall

Comments (0) By Rick Mason Wednesday, Nov 4 2009

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This long-married couple separately made indelible marks on the pop landscape in the 1960s. Trumpeter Herb Alpert was leader of the phenomenally successful, mariachi-influenced Tijuana Brass, which repeatedly topped the charts with a series of brash instrumentals, eventually selling some 72 million albums. He was also the A in A&M Records, founded with Jerry Moss in 1962 and in its prime one of the most prominent independent labels. Lani Hall was the lead singer for Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, providing the voice on such hits as "Mas Que Nada" and "Fool on the Hill." Each has issued solo albums in the intervening decades, but never a full-fledged collaboration until this year's Anything Goes (Concord), an impressive collection of mostly standards recorded live at jazz clubs around the country. It's predominantly a straight-ahead jazz affair with a strong undercurrent of samba and bossa nova, and not just on Djavan's "Para-Raio" and Ivan Lins's "Dinorah." A supple quartet led by Alpert's Miles-influenced trumpet work (much of it improvised) glides through lively, imaginative arrangements, particularly a Carioca-soaked version of the Gershwins' "Fascinating Rhythm," a sultry, expressionistic run through "That Old Black Magic," and "Besame Mucho" shot full of funk straight out of New Orleans. Hall's versatile voice is in fine shape, alternately sassy and classy as she spouts rapid-fire lyrics in Portuguese, scats on "I've Got You Under My Skin," and evokes a hint of Streisand on the title track.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, 7 p.m. Starts: Nov. 10. Continues through Nov. 11, 2009