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Chris Willman
Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic
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Timothy Norris/Los Angeles Philharmonic The Hollywood Bowl was by no means a lonely bowl Sunday night, as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass returned to pack the storied venue for the first time in 59 years. The Brass’s Cahuenga Pass comeback came not a moment too soon, with the band leader proudly bragging about his age… as one does, and should, when one is this undiminished by the years. “This is a dream come true for me,” Alpert crowed. “I never thought I’d be doing this at 91.”
Some of the rest of us might have imagined it, if only because Alpert clearly has the best shot of any of us of living forever. But the odds were longer that he’d be doing an official Tijuana Brass show at this age, or any age, because he previously hadn’t shown much interest in reviving his 1960s band brand as a concept for an entire tour. Family members and business partners convinced him that if he built this more purposefully nostalgic a show, they would come, in bigger numbers and with more of a heightened sense of celebration. The prophecy came true last fall, when Alpert and the Brass sold out all shows on a theater tour that climaxed in November in a buzzy pair of appearances down the street at the Dolby Theatre. Clearly it was time to move the party uphill this summer, to a venue where the sense of time travel could be all-encompassing. Alpert at the Bowl, doing a nearly all-’60s set, feels like a case of game recognizing game.
It’s tough to imagine how this show would strike someone who had not grown up with a copy of “Whipped Cream and Other Delights” in the family living-room cabinet. Would it have the same impact for someone who had no idea what “Laugh-In,” “The Dating Game,” “What’s My Line” and the other television shows seen in clips on the overhead screen were? We could have run a survey and actually asked some of the younger folks at the Bowl whether the music registered as strongly to them as it does to those of us who get most of the nostalgic associations. But we were too caught up in the communal bliss to take a poll of random kids. Our best guess is that there might be a little bit of recognition for the youngest generations, too, watching all those clips — as in, Holy cow, Austin Powers was real! And the music itself? Nothing could be more tied to a specific time period than the Tijuana Brass’ short catalog. But surely anyone hearing these tunes and these arrangements for the first time would recognize the spark of joy. No one since the end of the T.B. era appears to have thought to use the sound of three trumpets playing in unison (or, alternately, two trumpets and a trombone), unaccompanied by vocals, as the basis of smash-hit pop music. But, hearing that sprightly style revived now, it sure sounds like it could heal the world.
Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass & Other Delights – Hollywood Bowl – July 5, 2026 Timothy Norris/Los Angeles Philharmonic Sunday night’s show began with a surprise introduction, a crowd-pleasing appearance that went on long enough, it pretty much counted as an opening act: a laudatory speech by fellow pop legend and one-time Alpert protege Paul Williams. “There’s nothing to worry about,” Williams told the audience, “but Herb left his horn at home.” (That wasn’t true, but it’s possible there was some stalling involved; a few folks in the audience couldn’t help but notice that when Alpert and his musicians did make their way to the stage a bit later, it was literally just moments after the Mexico-England World Cup game ended. Coincidence? We’d waited 59 years for this, we could wait an extra five minutes.)
“Now, how many of you knew that A&M Records started out in a garage?” Williams asked. “Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in a garage on a handshake. And you can hear all the attorneys in the audience … the clenching of teeth at the thought of that, but, but don’t be like that, because look at all the contracts you worked on through the years because A&M Records attracted everybody.” Williams recounted the familiar story of how Alpert vowed to start his own indie label after having his hand slapped by an engineer when he touched the board at a mixing session. “I wonder how many nights that engineer couldn’t get to sleep, remembering that he had slapped Herb’s hand… Herb thought, basically, shouldn’t the artist always have a voice in what happens with his music? And,” added the songwriter-turned-ASCAP chief, “I would take that into 2026 and say, ‘Shouldn’t he always be paid for it?’ Shouldn’t he have a right to say no if you try to train your computers with it? But so Herb’s whole thing was artists first.”
Thankfully, Williams’ jovial remarks marked the last time anyone mentioned or even thought about 2026.
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