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Presents HERB ALPERT IS… Written and Directed by John Scheinfeld RT: 111 Minutes Publicity Contacts: Falco Ink. | 212-445-7100 Steven Beeman, [email protected] Adrianna Valentin, [email protected] “I think the ups and downs of my life can inspire others.” -Herb Alpert Herb Alpert is a multi-faceted man, a man of many passions. Short Synopsis With his trumpet he turned the Tijuana Brass into gold, earning 15 gold and 14 platinum records; He has won nine Grammys Awards between 1966 and 2014, and received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2012. Herb co-founded the indie label, A & M Records with his business partner, Jerry Moss, which recorded artists as varied as Carole King, Cat Stevens, The Carpenters, Janet Jackson, Peter Frampton, Joe Cocker, Quincy Jones, Sergio Mendes, and The Police. A&M would go on to become one of the most successful independent labels in history. He has shown his striking work as an abstract painter and sculptor, worldwide. And through the Herb Alpert Foundation, he has given significant philanthropic support of educational programs in the arts nationwide, from the Harlem School of the Arts and Los Angeles City College to CalArts and UCLA. John Scheinfeld’s documentary Herb Alpert is… profiles the artist, now 85, mostly from the perspective of colleagues like Questlove, Sting, and Bill Moyers. In their words, the shy, unassuming trumpeter is a musical, artistic and philanthropic heavyweight. Long Synopsis Herb Alpert was a shy third grader when his music appreciation teacher arranged instruments on a table and encouraged her students to experiment. The 8-year-old picked up a trumpet and effectively found his voice. In 1966, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass outsold the Beatles two to one. Between 1966 and 2014, the musician who wed Dixieland and mariachi styles with jazz and pop, won nine Grammys, a testament to his virtuosity and enduring appeal. In 1962 he co-founded the indie label, A & M Records with business partner, Jerry Moss, which introduced artists as varied as Carole King, Cat Stevens, The Carpenters, Janet Jackson, Peter Frampton, Joe Cocker, Quincy Jones, Sergio Mendes and The Police. A&M would go on to become one of the most successful independent labels in history. His work as an abstract painter and sculptor has been shown worldwide. Through the Herb Alpert Foundation, he has given significant philanthropic support of educational programs in the arts nationwide, from the Harlem School of the Arts and Los Angeles City College to CalArts and UCLA. With his #1 record, “Rise” (1979) and romantic ballad “This Guy’s in Love With You” (1968), Alpert is the only solo artist to have number-one singles on both the instrumental and vocal charts. With the Tijuana Brass, Alpert had nine consecutive Gold albums. After it disbanded, he earned six more. In all, he has a total of 15 gold and 14 platinum records. John Scheinfeld’s Herb Alpert is… paints a portrait of the sensitive artist and self-described “card-carrying introvert” as someone who prefers to let his music, painting and sculpture speak for him. Thus, Scheinfeld relies on the likes of Burt Bacharach, Richard Carpenter, Bill Moyers, Questlove, and Sting to talk about Alpert’s achievements as a musician and record producer. Others, like Richard Lariviere, president of Chicago’s Field Museum, praises the musician’s expressionistic sculptures that permanently stand in the museum’s gardens, and Eric Pryor, head of The Harlem School of the Arts, testifies to the impact of Alpert’s philanthropy. Among the other people interviewed are Jerry Moss, Alpert’s long-time partner in A & M Records, (Alpert is the “A,” and Moss the “M”); Lou Adler, legendary producer of Carole King and The Mamas and the Papas, who collaborated with Alpert on songwriting early in their careers, and worked together with the legendary Sam Cooke and 2 time Grammy Award winning singer, Lani Hall, who first met Alpert when he produced Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66, for which she was the lead vocalist. She wed Alpert in December 1973 and aside from her own, solo, singing career, she has been a vocalist on many of his subsequent albums. He calls her his muse. For the 72 million albums he has sold, Alpert ranks #7 on Billboard’s Top 200. Director’s Statement As a young man, seeing my mother dance around the house to the music of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass turned me on to this incredible music maker and I became a fan of his upbeat and very cool sound. It just made you feel good. So, when given the opportunity to make a film about Herb I certainly knew the music, but what of the man himself? What I came to learn is that Herb is different things to different people: Artist, Performer, Producer, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist and so much more. Whether it’s producing a new album every year, conceiving innovative and thoughtful music videos, displaying his artistry on the canvas or in clay, or finding ways to enhance the lives of those less fortunate, he is a true Renaissance man whose passion is to be creative and make a difference in the world each and every day. In Herb Alpert is… I wanted to create a portrait of a singular artist who does things the right way, achieves success on his own terms, and brings positivity to the world in the process. Most important, as a counterpoint to the polarizing political stories currently dominating the cultural landscape, I wanted to make a film that would celebrate a creative and influential life well lived in a way that would uplift, inspire and bring the audience together the way that Herb’s music and philanthropy has done for decades. - John Scheinfeld About Herb Alpert Herb Alpert was born in 1935 in the ethnically diverse neighborhood, Boyle Heights, located between downtown and East Los Angeles. Herb was the youngest of three in a musical family. Father Louis emigrated from the U.S.S.R. and was a tailor, clothing manufacturer and he also played the mandolin. His mother, Tillie, played the violin and hailed from the lower East side of New York, with Romanian roots. Brother David was a professional drummer; sister Mimi played piano. In 1937, the family moved to LA’s Fairfax neighborhood where Herb started school at Melrose Elementary. In 1943, in a music appreciation class, with a table full of musical instruments, Herb picked out the trumpet. This was to be a decisive moment in his life. Recalling himself as a tongue-tied youngster, he said, “As soon as I started to make a noise that made sense, man, this trumpet was talking for me. It was saying things I couldn’t get out of my mouth.” From that moment, making music and art defined his life. Alpert was classically trained and played in junior symphonies. In 1948 Ben Klazkin, first trumpet of the San Francisco Symphony, became his tutor, and before long, an admirer of the 13 year old. But classical trumpet wasn’t in his future. In high school Alpert fell under the sway of Harry James, the trumpet-playing Big Band leader, and Rafael Mendez, known as “The Heifetz of the horn” and the great, Clifford Brown, “so great he made me want to put down my trumpet.” Though far from East 52nd Street, New York’s jazz Mecca, Los Angeles in the 1950s boasted a thriving jazz scene anchored by Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker who the young man would see -- and meet -- at local clubs. Alpert attended Fairfax High, receiving his diploma in 1953. While at Fairfax, Alpert was part of “The Colonial Trio.” He was on trumpet, and his classmates, Fred Santo, on piano and Norm Shapiro, on drums. For eight consecutive weeks the trio won the local TV competition “High Talent Time.” The exposure led to bookings for Bar Mitzvahs, high school dances and weddings. Following graduation, Alpert enrolled at the University of Southern California as a music major and played trumpet with the university’s celebrated Trojan Marching Band. He stayed until 1954 when he was drafted into the army. In basic training he was sent to Band School in Fort Knox Kentucky, where he met trumpet players that were better than him. “I realized that if I didn’t come up with a style of my own, I was never going to become a professional. It wasn’t enough that the trumpet spoke, it had to speak with my voice.” He was sent to the Sixth Army Band at the Presidio in San Francisco. While to the public in the 1960s Alpert seemed an overnight success, he had practiced the horn for 18 years and was equally disciplined about breaking into the music business. At 21, he married his high-school sweetheart, Sharon Lubin, and had a son, Dore and a daughter, Eden. Alpert had other defining partnerships with business partners, Lou Adler, with whom they co-wrote with Sam Cooke, the hit song, “Wonderful World,” and in 1962 he founded A & M Records with Jerry Moss. A chance visit to the bullfights in Tijuana triggered the idea for “The Lonely Bull,” the first instrumental hit for Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass. Despite the band’s name, neither Alpert nor its band members were of Mexican heritage. The success of “The Lonely Bull” brought financial security both to Alpert and A & M Records. With subsequent tracks like, “Mexican Shuffle,” “A Taste of Honey,” and “Spanish Flea,” Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass were everywhere on the airwaves and TV during the 1960s.

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