POP MUSIC REVIEW : Alpert, Mendes at Hollywood Bowl

The concerts presented Friday and Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl, with Herb Alpert and Sergio Mendes as headliners, drew virtual capacity houses both nights: Friday’s figure was 17,788.

Ostensibly this was a Latin- or Brazilian-tinged program, though the exact meaning of those terms has become increasingly vague. Los Angeles’ own Alpert and his Chicago-born wife, Lani Hall, shared time with conductor-composer George del Barrio of Argentina and Mendes of Brazil.

Alpert has made vast strides from the Mariachi-influenced Tijuana Brass, moving from a cottage industry to the multimillion-dollar pavilion that houses his A & M Records. He has not done this without help from such distinctly non-Latin sources as “If I Were a Rich Man,” from “Fiddler On The Roof,” and “Zorba the Greek,” both included in a medley of his early hits. Opening dramatically from way back in the house, blowing “A Taste of Honey” (a song that is neither Latin nor Greek) into a mike hidden in his horn, Alpert made the 100-yard dash to the stage, then reminisced about his show here 21 years ago, also with Mendes.

Though he is not primarily an improvising trumpeter, Alpert’s strong sound on prepared solos and seemingly self-mocking staccato effects work well for him. Creatively, though, he came to life with Del Barrio’s three-part suite “Under a Spanish Moon.”

Alpert acquitted himself agreeably in a vocal duet with Hall, then left her in the solo spotlight. Hall has matured impressively over the years. A song called “Get Here” provided a potent blend of attractive melody and lyrics, well-crafted arrangement for the L.A. Philharmonic and her own sensitive interpretation.

The medley of Alpert’s blockbuster recordings offered a reminder of tunes that were tiresome 20 years ago (“Tijuana Taxi”) and sound doubly dumb today; on the other hand, Julius Wechter’s “Spanish Flea” dressed up in an ingenious Del Barrio arrangement, was a very hip tune in 1966 and remains so today.

Sergio Mendes, in his opening set, also leaned on some of his 1960s hits. Such songs as “Going Out of My Head,” “The Look of Love,” and most particularly “Mas Que Nada” have fought the onerous test of time and won handily.

The veteran composer Dori Caymmi was on hand, playing guitar and contributing some of the arrangements; however, the songs were mainly vehicles for Mendes’ vocalists, Gracinha Leporace and Angie Janee, neither of whom is spectacularly gifted, though their blend is, at least, quite pleasant--an adjective that could scarcely be applied to his guest singer, Joe Pizzulo. It takes quite an effort to mess up a beautiful song like Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile,” yet Pizzulo, overdosing on schmaltz, managed to do it.