Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Christmas Album

There's no telling what you can find if you spend enough time riffling through the dollar bins. I originally picked this one up, then put it back. Then I found another copy, so I went back and compared the two and figured it was a sign. Into the pile it went. It cleaned up nice, and I could hardly wait to see what kind of cheese I was in for.

As a kid I thought Herb Alpert's trumpet playing was the coolest of the cool, and "Spanish Flea" would crack me up every time I heard it. As I got older I picked up on the subtext and thought it was funnier than ever. Their style of articulated trumpet soloing would go on to provide the thematic fodder for game show theme composers for years to come.

I'm somewhat conflicted, as there are truly great heaping dollops of pure whipped cheese throughout the album, especially the trumpet parts on "Jingle Bells," but there are a couple of really nice renditions as well, which actually make this more enjoyable than I expected it to be.

On the first listen I wasn't expecting a lead vocal, and suddenly Herb pipes up and sings a very good rendition of "The Christmas Song," which I actually went and looked up to see if he really did sing it. Apparently he did. Well done, sir.

This is followed by "Las Mananitas," which feels very authentic, except that it's played by a bunch of white dudes. Still, I love the baritone guitar with the tremolo. It's awesome. Still, I really liked it. Then again, the whole album feels mighty white, complete with the vanilla trappings of smooth "shooby do wah" backing vocals.

The more I played the album, the more fun it was. It was weird, as I really only bought this to make fun of it, not enjoy the experience. I think these guys were more in on the joke than people realized. They were very much of their time, and without the Brazilian jazz explosion and artists like Sergio Mendes, kept alive with the schmoozey stylings of bands like The 5th Dimension and their stupid balloon, good old Herb would likely have had a much shorter shelf life.

On the second side, Mr. Alpert again steps up to the microphone, this time on Burt Bacharach's "The Bell That Couldn't Jingle," another surprisingly good song. In terms of a decent fireside relaxing Christmas album, this is actually putting me in the Christmas spirit.

However, the highlight of the album is when the band swerves into a burlesque rendition of "Jingle Bell Rock." Luckily it wasn't longer, as I'd only managed to dance around and hop on one foot to take off my socks. I don't think it would have been appropriate to continue undressing to "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," although I do wonder at the pairing of these two songs.

Still, Herb Alpert was no dummy, and between him and Jerry Moss, the "M" in A&M Records, he was able to parlay his success here into success elsewhere. So who had the last laugh playing trumpet with a mariachi-styled jazz ensemble?

When I was reading up on the album, I saw a comment about Herb Alpert wearing a fake beard and Santa hat and performing Christmas songs, as he was Jewish after all. Hey, I hate to break it to you, but Jesus was Jewish too, and he was okay with Christmas.

As they say, "Jesus is the reason for the Season."

Merry Christmas to you too, Mister Alpert.

Styx - Paradise Theater

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