• Talented trumpeter with a distinctively smooth and laid-back tone . . . which delivers us back to the start of Alpert’s less-than-linear timeline.
Alpert took to the trumpet from the outset. He possessed relative pitch, an ability to double- and triple-tongue, and solid classical training. He had an ear for melody and a talent for instant recall. “I was able to play all the songs that were popular at the time, plus standards,” he remembers. “If I heard a song once I could play it right back.”
Upon entering U.S.C., Alpert’s aptitude earned him a position in the school’s orchestra band, even as he was drawn away from classical music by the sound of jazz. It was the opening years of the ’50s and a rich, vibrant jazz scene was in full bloom in L.A. Trumpeters Shorty Rogers and Chet Baker, saxophonists Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan, were among those and pioneering the West Coast “Cool” sound: a restrained, more intimate style that followed the popular, frenetic sound of bebop of the ’40s.
