You might understandably wonder why I didn’t start my #TuesdaysWithJerry series saluting the late great Jerry Moss with this (or any) twofer from his A&M partner Herb Alpert and his long-running outfit the Tijuana Brass Band. After all, it was Alpert’s desire to release albums independently that led to the label’s formation in ‘62 with the emergence of his surprise hit ‘The Lonely Bull.’
How can any survey of A&M’s past begin anywhere else?
I have no logical explanation beyond mere preference: the day I got this #VinylTwosDays corollary off the ground, I simply reached first for records from Wes Montgomery and George Benson. Maybe I also wanted to avoid the obvious right out of the gate? Sprinkle in some Herbie (as Jerry called him) as the weeks rolled on rather than all at once?
Whatever my reasoning was doesn’t matter. Alpert’s finest sides, the bulk of which were stuffed into the second half of the ‘60s, shouldn’t be waylaid any longer. As I’ve relearned from the timely documentary ‘Mr. A & Mr. M: The Story of A&M Records,’ a superb history lesson streaming on Prime, this house of music never would have stood so long as a beacon of artistic freedom were it not for his success.
And these platters wouldn’t have been half as popular — ‘Whipped Cream & Other Delights’ was the biggest-selling LP of ‘66, ‘What Now My Love’ landed third on that list — were it not for the stylistic pulse-sensing acumen and magic lips of the most widely known trumpeter this side of Miles Davis.
OK, yes: that cover doesn’t hurt. It’s still so suggestively sexy.
I suspect *many* men my father’s age bought a copy without having much idea what sounds were within. I know my dad actually dug the tunes, especially the title track and ‘Green Peppers’ and the most famous version of ‘A Taste of Honey,’ and there were less scintillating TB discs in his collection. But he also wouldn’t have been immune to the allure of having ‘Whipped Cream’ displayed next to his swanky hi-fi.
Essential stuff from the tail-end of what’s now called mid-century modern. Still tons o’ fun too.