Summertime

Audio Remasterer: Bernie Grundman.Recording information: A&M Studios (1971).Photographer: Jim McCrary.Arranger: Herb Alpert.Though Herb Alpert was technically taking a sabbatical from music in the early 1970s, he wasn't entirely inactive, recording in dribs and drabs. So A&M assembled this brief collection of singles and stray cuts in the summer of 1971; it went nowhere on the charts but added some pleasing entries to the Alpert discography. The two best cuts, taken from a 1970 single, are as good as anything from the Tijuana Brass' heyday, with Alpert's own haunting tone poem "Jerusalem" and a great, strutting arrangement of "Strike Up the Band." The title track, with a dual vocal by Alpert and his wife Lani Hall, is also intriguing, drawing inspiration from the famous Miles Davis/Gil Evans version, while Alpert pulls off a really good jazz trumpet solo on "The Nicest Things Happen." Otherwise, most of the tracks on this LP lack energy, and even vigorous arrangements like that