Where to buy TJB charts ?

trumpetdiva1 · Posted: Fri May 02, 2003 3:06 pm Post subject:

In the jazz orchestra that I play in we like to play add some variety to out concerts. We mainly stick to playing original big band charts, but there are exceptions. Well, the jazz orchestra director would like to know where we can purchase Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Bass charts. He told me that they used to sell them years ago, but he cannot find them today. Does anyone know where we could purchase these charts?

Thanks!

Janell Carter

Horn of Praise · Posted: Fri May 02, 2003 3:29 pm Post subject:

Hi Janell,

If you don't get an answer here, try the A&M Corner. I used "their" forum to get the sheet music for "Casino Royale". You might have similar luck.

All the best.
_________________
PAUL NELSON - Eclipse White Lightning / Getzen Eterna 900 Classic / Monette B4LD / Blue Juice

DaveH · Heavyweight Member Joined: 20 Nov 2001 Posts: 3861

Many years ago(back in the sixties), Hansen Publishers and Key Pops Publishers published "combo" books containing arrangements of many of the Tijuana Brass tunes. These were available for Bb and rythym acompaniment. I used to have these books, but they have been lost for many years, and are irreplaceable, as they have been out of print for many, many years...

The only way you are going to find anything like this is probably on eBay, or auction or flea market type sales. They are no longer able to be purchased today...

If you go to http://members.aol.com/lanesong/HERBALPE.HTM you can find links to pages that will show you the old books and what was in them. This site, plus http://www.amcorner.com are two websites that are about A&M Records and the TJB...

[ This Message was edited by: DaveH on 2003-05-02 19:27 ]

surfhorn · Posted: Fri May 02, 2003 6:53 pm Post subject:

My practice buddy has a TJB book with arrangements for 3 trumpets (I think) and trombone in a combo setting. I'll call him and get the straight info.

Its funny, we were thinking about putting together a rythym section and performing the TJB literature this summer.

JoeCool · Posted: Fri May 02, 2003 9:41 pm Post subject:

Hey, if you can find some charts, more power to you. That would be the easiest. There are songbooks on ebay all the time tho. That would at least give you the chords and a start. The arrangements were really fairly simple and strait forward. Your band could probably pick it right up.

DaveH · Heavyweight Member Joined: 20 Nov 2001 Posts: 3861

Yes, the parts are easy to play for any accomplished player - getting the sound and style right and copied is quite another matter, so get the recordings - which by the way, are also mostly out of print - and listen to not just what notes are played, but the sound and style. How it is all put together and executed. I did this music very successfully for several years with a TJB tribute group back in the sixties when it was initially popular. I think DEFINITIVE HITS may be the only CD currently available, and the vinyl albums on which the original recordings are found can only be found at a flea market or maybe eBay...

Herb Alpert is a much better trumpet player than most trumpet players give him credit for being. He is first and foremost a trumpet STYLIST, and created an original sound and style which has led to him being probably the most commercially successful instrumentalist in history. All trumpet parts on the original recordings were played by Alpert and overdubbed several times to get the sound. It is said that he even slightly detuned the trumpet with each successive overdub to get the sound you hear on recording. And that is the key - getting the sound - not just playing the notes. Also, the rythym section from the original TJB was outstanding - Nick Ceroli on drums, Pat Senatore on bass, John Pisano on 12 string guitar, and Lou Pagani on piano, with Julius Wechter on marimba in the recording studio(not used in live performance, however). Perhaps others in the studio, but all first class session players from the sixties in LA. Don't let anybody kid you - these guys were top notch LA studio players back in the sixties and most have some big band and jazz credentials before the TJB gig. They were an extremely tight section and expert players. Ceroil and Pagani are deceased, but both Pisano and Senatore currently perform with their own jazz combos in the LA area. Wechter is also deceased. He was the leader of the former Baja Marimba Band - another A&M group formed in the sixties as an offshoot, so to speak from the success of the Tijuana Brass.

I heard the TJB several times in concert. This was a great band. Tight and very professional. Excellent showmanship. Herb used the above players in concert with Tonni Kalash on trumpet(also deceased) and Bob Edmondson on trombone. You could tell these guys could really play if turned loose... They were among the highest paid sidemen at the time...This group was disbanded by Herb Alpert in 1970, when he decided to call a halt to the TJB project.

Herb Alpert briefly reorganized a second TJB - mostly different players - in the early to mid 1970s which lasted for a short period of time and recorded two albums. This group had Bob Findley playing trumpet with Herb.

You will be fortunate if you can follow up on the above post where there is a comment about having access to the combo books - brass and rythym parts. These give you the stuff needed to play the songs easily with a small group - although copyright limitations will not permit every TJB song from being included in those books, you will still have a good variety and plenty to work with. These did exist at one time a long time ago but no longer, and the only way you will get them today is to find someone who still has them after all these years...

Good luck - I wish I were able to join you - it was great fun...

[ This Message was edited by: DaveH on 2003-05-03 09:26 ]

surfhorn · Posted: Sat May 03, 2003 6:54 am Post subject:

Our TJB project should be fun. I started playing trumpet in 1963 so the TJB were a definite listen for me. How many of us hasn't played the Lonely Bull or Tijuana Taxi?!

We know the sound but I think the hardest part is finding 60's tuxedos or western/cowboy outfits.

Then, again, how about a vat of whipped cream?!

DaveH · Heavyweight Member Joined: 20 Nov 2001 Posts: 3861

Delores Ericksen was the lady in the Whipped Cream....

We had different outfits at various times...the one I remember most was copied after one that Herb wore on a photo session and I first saw on the cover of the sheet music to the song "Slick" on the BEAT OF THE BRASS album. It was a green sport coat, white pants, and yellow shirt with tie.

If you check out the http://members.aol.com/lanesong/HERBALPE.HTM site mentioned in a post of mine above, you can find a links to some pages that will give brief bios on the TJB sidemen from the original group.

surfhorn · Posted: Sat May 03, 2003 8:19 am Post subject:

Oh, yeah, Delores.......that album cover definitley had an effect on me.... Plus I always enjoyed the music.

With the emergence and dominence of guitar/bass/drum acts at that time, anything with horns was a definite listen to. As a young teen trumpeter in the early/mid 60's, there weren't many modern role models. The TJB was a great act to have around.

DaveH · Heavyweight Member Joined: 20 Nov 2001 Posts: 3861

I loved the music - and the opportunities to play it in public with a group gave me some of the fondest and most enduring memories of my youth.

The sixites were a special time for me, and I had a great time growing up then. Nothing like it ever since. I find myself always comparing everything to what was going on back then, especially musically....

The TJB was an important part of the "soundtrack" of the times.

Horn of Praise · Posted: Sat May 03, 2003 8:58 am Post subject:

I have "Definitive Hits", but several other CD's (mostly greatest hits compilations) are available on Amazon.com.

I hope this helps.
_________________
PAUL NELSON - Eclipse White Lightning / Getzen Eterna 900 Classic / Monette B4LD / Blue Juice

DaveH · Heavyweight Member Joined: 20 Nov 2001 Posts: 3861

The first four of the TJB albums - up to and including Whipped Cream - were all played by session players, including Hal Blaine on drums, Carol Kaye on bass, and other top studio/session players in the LA area in the sixties. There was no specific "live" group until 1965, when the popularity of the recordings created a demand for concert performances. The GOING PLACES album is the first time that a specific group is pictured on the cover, and these faces/players are not named until the SRO album(1966).

A "group identity" became evident with the GOING PLACES album, but one should not assume that every track on every album featured these exact players all the time. For example, it is unlikely that trumpet player Tonni Kalash played much, if any, on the studio recordings, but was rather used to supply another trumpet in concert. Julius Wechter played marimba on many TJB recordings, but did not appear with the original TJB in concert - rather he was the leader of the Baja Marimba Band.

With the demise of the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert seemed to focus his attention more on the business of A&M Records - which was the label he and Jerry Moss created with the "Lonely Bull" back in 1962, and on which all TJB recordings are issued - and over the next two decades, and even during the TJB era of the sixties, A&M signed a large variety of well known basically pop and rock music groups and acts, including the Carpenters.

He has also recorded a variety of solo projects of mixed content - some I like and some I do not. Perhaps his most well known solo effort was the song "Rise" that was a big chart success back in 1979 during the disco era. Some others are attempts to go in a jazz direction, some have an urban or hip/hop influence, some have an almost "techno" influence, and some have a Latin influence. He has tried to move with the musical "mood" of the times. My favorite solo project recorded by Herb that shows him best as a trumpet player is the Latin oriented album called FANDANGO.

A few years ago, it was reported that Herb and Jerry Moss(the M in A&M) sold their business partnership which they began in 1962 in Herb's garage with an initial investment of about $200, and which became known to the world as A&M Records, for a sum in the vicinity of $500 million.

These days Herb seems to have retired - and has focused his attention on art and painting, and whatever else...he has been a tremendously successful businessman in addition to and because of his musical career... I believe he also has a star now on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has made some public appearances over the past few years, but seems to be pretty much out of the public "eye." He is 68 years old. There are rumors of the possible reissue on CD of all the original recordings, or at least a "box set" type project. However, this is purely a rumor at this time....

[ This Message was edited by: DaveH on 2003-05-03 14:36 ]

[ This Message was edited by: DaveH on 2003-05-03 14:41 ]

Arranger-Transcriber · Posted: Sun May 04, 2003 8:14 pm Post subject:

I can locate several of the Herb Alpert charts. If interested, contact me.

Arranger-Transcriber · Posted: Mon May 05, 2003 9:23 pm Post subject:

To get back to the original request, Where we can purchase Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Bass charts?

These appear to be long out of print. However, I have located quite a few in libraries of my acquaintences: Tijuana Taxi, Spanish Flea, Lonely Bull, So What's New, It Was a Very Good Year, Magic Trumpet, More and More Amour. There may be others. If anyone's interested in tracking these down, I can help.