Herb Alpert and Lani Hall to support new album

MORRISTOWN — Nine-time Grammy-winning jazz icon Herb Alpert, best known for his string of pop hits in the 1960s with the Tijuana Brass, and his wife, vocalist Lani Hall, perform at Mayo Performing Arts Center on Thursday, March 26 at 8 p.m., in support of their new release, "In the Mood." Tickets are $49 to $69.

After winning his ninth Grammy in 2014 and being honored by President Obama with the National Medal of Arts in 2013, Herb Alpert is back with a new release, "In the Mood," which sees Alpert playing a diverse array of standards and originals.

Lani Hall rose to fame in 1966 as the lead singer of Sergio Mendes' group, Brasil '66. Brasil '66 was signed to A&M Records by the co-founder of the label (and Lani's future husband), Herb Alpert. Lani has the distinction of recording more than 22 albums in three different languages, four alongside her husband, and in 1983, she sang the title song for the James Bond film, "Never Say Never Again." In 1986 Hall earned her first Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Performance for her album, "Es Facil Amar."

When talking about his recent success, Alpert remains humble.

"Making music is a natural thing for me to do," he says. "I love melodies from standards and I try to present them in a different way that hasn't been heard before."

'In The Mood' is a pop jazz album which opens with Glen Miller's classic, "Chatanooga Choo Choo," and closes with "America The Beautiful," where Alpert employs percussion from all seven continents to "reflect the melting pot" of the United States.

"Few people can claim to be a Renaissance man in this complex age, but Herb Alpert might be one of them," says The New York Times.

And few can rival Alpert's staggering resume: as a solo artist and as the leader of the Tijuana Brass, he has sold more than 72 million records, and placed 28 albums in the Billboard 200, including five number ones. He has scored 14 platinum and 15 gold albums, and is the only artist ever to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 as both a vocalist and instrumentalist. At one point Alpert and the Tijuana Brass simultaneously had four albums in the Top 10.

Aside from his impressive career as a musician, he and his partner, Jerry Moss, founded A&M Records, which was the largest independent record company in the world, and in 2006 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. An acclaimed painter and sculptor with work in the permanent collection at MOCA in Los Angeles, with gallery shows and public art that has been shown around the US and Europe. Alpert is also a Tony Award-winning producer ('Angels in America'), and a philanthropist who has donated over $130 million towards arts education through his Herb Alpert Foundation.

The Mayo Performing Arts Center is located at 100 South St. in Morristown. For more information and tickets contact the box office at 973-539-8008 or www.mayoarts.org.