Even Herb Alpert got goose bumps when revisiting his Tijuana Brass tunes

Fifty years is considered a golden anniversary. That number resonates for good reason with Herb Alpert.

A multiplatinum musician who has sold an estimated 72 million records worldwide, the California-born trumpeter released his 50th studio album, titled — what else — “50” in 2024.

The prior year, he celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary with Lani Hall, a former vocalist with Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66. With so much going on, Alpert hasn’t slowed down and is currently on the road with Hall in a tour that’s found the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer dusting off material he recorded with the Tijuana Brass.

The tour, with what’s billed as his “brand new Tijuana Brass,” makes a sold-out stop Monday at Atlanta Symphony Hall.

Herb Alpert, who turns 91 on Tuesday, says, "I have to (make music) for myself because I’m the best audience for what I want to hear and play and what I feel." (Courtesy of Dewey Nicks)

This was the most successful phase of a storied and lengthy career that started in 1958 when Alpert recorded a single (written with lyricist Lou Adler) titled “The Trial” and credited to Herb B. Lou and the Legal Eagles.

A restless creative spirit who has also been sculpting for nearly a half-century, Alpert isn’t one to look back. He wasn’t initially interested in revisiting his Tijuana Brass days until he gave old hits such as “The Lonely Bull” and “Spanish Flea” another listen.

“I had no idea I was going to do (this particular material for this tour) until my nephew, who is one of our managers, said he always gets requests for me to play these Tijuana Brass songs,” Alpert explained in a recent interview. “I told him that was the past — I already did that. But he said so many people would like to hear it and it’s a time when people could use some positive music. I told him I’d think about it.”

He added, “I got the ‘Whipped Cream & Other Delights’ album and the other things I did — ‘What Now My Love’ — and all those songs together, put them on a list and started playing them. I was smiling when I finished. It made me feel good. I said, ‘Man, I’m going to do this.’ This is the gift from me to the people that changed my life because of their appreciation of my music. I’m going to do it as a gift to them and as a gift to me. It’s a win-win. I’ve got some goose bumps just listening to that music, and I’m going to put it out there for people to experience.”

With Alpert’s 90th birthday having arrived March 31 last year, the Los Angeles native proved his mettle in the recording studio via “50.” Recorded in his home studio, this 10-song collection finds Alpert serving up a wide-ranging array of covers punctuated by his melodic horn playing.

Highlights range from a lush reading of Elvis Presley’s “Are You Lonesome Tonight” and a mellifluous take on Antonio Carlos Jobim’s bossa nova standard “Corcovado” to a dreamy version of the surf rock instrumental classic “Sleepwalk” and a modern electronica-kissed updating of Duke Pearson’s hard bop gem “Jeannine.”

For Alpert, who also released a holiday album, “Christmas Time Is Here” in November, the creative process is more about processing what he feels musically versus chasing any kind of commercial success.

“It’s a joy to be able to make music,” he said. “To tell you the truth, I make music for myself — that’s what I do. I have to do it for myself because I’m the best audience for what I want to hear and play and what I feel. When I feel a record or feel a song qualifies to be put out, that’s when I do it. I don’t have this master plan.”

Truly an artist’s artist, Alpert manifested that idea of how creative folks should be treated by co-founding the highly successful A&M Records in 1962 with partner Jerry Moss. And while the duo stopped managing the imprint in 1993 following its acquisition by PolyGram, he has fond memories of working with the Carpenters, Cat Stevens and Sting, among others.

“Sincerity is why I signed the Carpenters in 1969,” he said. “That’s not the music that I listened to, but when I heard (Karen Carpenter’s) voice and Richard’s ability to put it together, it was real. As I heard it, it was sincere and, man, did it ever translate after they got rolling. I love Sting. He’s brilliant, smart and sensitive to others. Cat Stevens, for sure, is very original. I heard him with just a guitar and his songs, and he just knocked you out because it was all so intensely personal to him, but so honest.”

Ask Alpert what’s kept him going for so long, and it’s as simple as losing himself in being creative, be it playing his horn or sculpting.