89-Year-Old Herb Alpert Announces 50th Album

The legendary trumpeter Herb Alpert has had one hell of a life in music. Consider: This guy co-wrote “Wonderful World” for Sam Cooke, and he did that 64 years ago. In the ’60s, Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, his big band, sold a whole lot of horny easy-listening instrumental music. Their album Whipped Cream And Other Delights was the biggest-selling LP of 1966. (Alpert actually had three of that year’s five most successful albums; his only competition was the Sound Of Music soundtrack and Revolver.) Alpert landed his first #1 hit when he sang Burt Bacharach’s “This Guy’s In Love With You” in 1968, and his funky 1979 instrumental smash “Rise” became the basis of Biggie Smalls’ “Hypnotize.” Alpert also co-founded A&M Records, and he was still making hits with A&M star Janet Jackson deep into the ’80s. He’s still going now. Amazing.

Today, the 89-year-old Herb Alpert announced plans to release his 50th studio album, which is called 50. (The 49th was 2023’s Wish Upon A Star.) Alpert isn’t quite the oldest person ever to record an album of new material — the late Tony Bennett dropped one when he was 95, and 91-year-old Willie Nelson is still cranking records out — but it’s close. Alpert called his new album 50 partly for the obvious reasons but also partly to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his marriage. In a press release, Alpert says:

I am fortunate to still be exploring and having fun making music. When I first started recording, I had a one-track wire recorder. Today, I make music using digital recording with unlimited recording tracks. The one thing, for me, that has always remained the same, no matter one-track, two-track, or 100 tracks, is that it is always about finding a great song or melody. A great song or melody recorded on one-track will always be a great song.

Along with the album announcement, Alpert has also shared the short, jaunty new instrumental “Dancing Down 50th Street.” Check it out below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Dancing Down 50th Street”
02 “Sh-Boom”
03 “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”
04 “Baubles, Bangles And Beads”
05 “Morning Mist”
06 “Never Too Late”
07 “Where Do We Go From Here”
08 “Sleep Walk”
09 “Corcovado”
10 “Jeannine”

from www.stereogum.com