{"id":29667,"date":"2025-08-12T05:30:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T09:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=29667"},"modified":"2025-06-25T10:30:03","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T14:30:03","slug":"music-blurbs-vol-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/12\/music-blurbs-vol-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Blurbs Vol. 13"},"content":{"rendered":"

Herb Alpert<\/b>
\nIt\u2019s only a slight overstatement to call trumpeter Herb Alpert the king of 1960s easy listening music. Alpert, of course, led the staggeringly successful Tijuana Brass; if you\u2019ve ever been in a thrift shop, you\u2019ve seen Whipped Cream and Other Delights<\/i>, the record with that famously racy cover photo. And as the \u201cA\u201d in A&M Records, Alpert co-founded the world\u2019s largest independent record company. He\u2019s best known, however, as the man who brought a kind of pop-jazz into the homes of millions; as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, he released 11 albums between 1962 and 1968; six of those LPs went to #1 on the Billboard<\/i> charts. Alpert\u2019s chirpy, uptempo style was effectively the soundtrack for a certain segment of the \u201860s lifestyle. After the Tijuana Brass years, Alpert largely left the south-of-the-border style behind, continuing his successes via a smoother mainstream jazz sound. Now coming full circle, Alpert\u2019s current tour \u2013 with his current Tijuana Brass Band \u2013 celebrates the 60th<\/sup> anniversary of Whipped Cream<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Jake Shimabukuro<\/b>
\nUkulele probably isn’t the first instrument that comes to mind when one thinks of powerfully rocking music. But Honolulu-born Jake Shimabukuro is the sort of artist who can make that comparatively humble instrument work in a surprising variety of contexts. His 2016 album Nashville Sessions<\/i> is something one rarely encounters: a ukulele-led (say that three times fast) power trio. It’s astoundingly good, and recommended for fans of Cream and Joe Satriani. He continued in a similar vein when guesting on Mick Fleetwood\u2019s 2024 album Blues Experience<\/i>. Tackling well-loved tunes from the likes of Jeff Beck, Procol Harum and the original Fleetwood Mac, they create a wonderful set of instrumentals that simmer and soar. Most listeners will have never uke like this; they likely won\u2019t even recognize that what they\u2019re hearing is a ukulele. And even when Skimabukuro explores other styles \u2013 funk, bluegrass, jazz, folk, flamenco and more \u2013 he always does it with style, creativity and wit. His supremely friendly, tuneful brand of music defies easy categorization, and his deep catalog features more than two dozen studio and live albums, including several created specifically for the Japanese market.<\/p>\n

Primus<\/b>
\nThe worlds of alternative\/indie and progressive rock coincide only rarely; the forms both lie just outside the musical mainstream, but share little else in common. But genre classifications mean little or nothing to Les Claypool and his band mates in Primus. Drawing from metal, funk and more, Primus combines technical mastery \u2013 these are some serious players \u2013 with a goofy, off-kilter worldview that suggests Dr. Demento crossed with Frank Zappa. Playful tunes like \u201cWynona\u2019s Big Brown Beaver\u201d from the trio\u2019s 1995 album Tales from the Punchbowl<\/i> exemplify their wacky yet musically ambitious approach to their craft (and the song actually chatted as a single, a rarity for an album-oriented outfit like Primus). The comedy never gets in the way of the band\u2019s swing-for-the-fences compositional and arrangement aesthetics. There hasn\u2019t been a new Primus album in eight years, but with a catalog that includes nine studio releases, there\u2019s plenty from which to choose for entertaining live shows.<\/p>\n

Collective Soul<\/b>
\nAtlanta-based rock band Collective Soul rose to prominence in the early \u201890s with the breakout success of their debut album, Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid<\/i>. Against the backdrop of the music scene of that era, the band\u2019s post-grunge approach fit in seamlessly with the alternative rock and late-period college rock movement. Starting out as an indie and self-producing their debut, the band attracted the attention of the majors. Thanks in part to nationwide exposure as Van Halen\u2019s tour opener, the band\u2019s second album went triple-Platinum. Subsequent albums didn\u2019t match those impossibly high levels, but the group continued to release solid material. When their time on Atlantic Records came to an end, the label slapped together material from Collective Soul\u2019s catalog and released 2001\u2019s 7even Year Itch<\/i>. In testament to the band\u2019s enduring popularity, that record received a vinyl reissue in 2023. Meanwhile, Collective Soul has continued to make appealing rock albums, working with a lineup that has changed a bit while remaining true to its musical values. 2022\u2019s Vibrating<\/i> earned critical praise, and while 2024\u2019s Here to Eternity<\/i> didn\u2019t dent the album charts, it\u2019s yet another strong collection of original material.<\/p>\n

Volbeat<\/b>
\nSince launching in 2001, Copenhagen-based band Volbeat has had it both ways: the popular group has honed its brand of hard-rock (with elements of early, vintage rock \u2018n\u2019 roll) while appealing to an audience that extends well beyond rock fans. Few groups have been as successful as the Danish quartet at maintaining their musical integrity while continuing to grow their fan base decades into their careers. Guitarist Michael Poulsen started the band as a vehicle for his artistic inclinations that didn’t fit into the death metal he had been playing with his previous group. Recruiting like-minded musicians including drummer Jon Larsen, Poulsen developed a sound that carried forth the power and energy of metal, balancing that style with classic and timeless musical styles like blues, rockabilly and soul. Volbeat’s first seven albums all went Gold or Platinum in Denmark; immediately on its June 2025 release, God of Angels Trust<\/i> soared to the #1 spot on charts in five countries, and at press time the album was rising on Billboard<\/i>\u2019s album chart in the U.S. as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Herb Alpert It\u2019s only a slight overstatement to call trumpeter Herb Alpert the king of 1960s easy listening music. Alpert, of course, led the staggeringly successful Tijuana Brass; if you\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29668,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29667\/revisions\/29668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}