Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, partners in music and marriage for 43 years, still have that “Look of Love.” While he plays his sweet trumpet, bringing in the crowd at the Café Carlyle an entertaining night of his greatest hits, Lani Hall sits beside him, her big eyes trained on him, head and body grooving to his trumpet. Her crystalline vocals in Portuguese and Spanish perfectly put everyone in the Tijuana/ Jobim mood. “I love it when she talks to me in Yiddish,” he laughs, and their ensemble with Bill Cantos on piano, Hussain Jiffrey—from Sri Lanka– on a six-string bass he can play like a guitar, and Michael Shapiro on drums create a musical dialogue all their own.

Having performed “A Taste of Honey” with the Tijuana Brass on The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960’s, Herb Alpert’s been on the music scene for decades and co-created A&M records. They performed the George Martin, John Lennon, Paul McCartney classic “Michelle” with Bill Cantos going honky tonk segueing nicely into a medley with “C’est Si Bon,” from Henri Betti and Andre Hornez. Looking to the audience for questions—“any ideas?” –he fielded few queries this time, and refused to take requests. As in the past Bill Cantos’ piano riffs for “Fly Me to the Moon” and scat for Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” are a perfect counterpoint to Hall’s lovely vocals.

When Alpert teases the audience with the question, who wouldn’t want to sing this, an introduction to “This Guy’s in Love With You,” the crowd including Bill Moyers, and travelers from Atlanta just in town to hear them, join in on the lyric: “If Not I’ll Just Dieeeee.” The evening ends with the couple kissing. “The Look of Love” doesn’t get better than this.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura