♪ tavis: good evening from los angeles, tavis smiley. her opera performed and m records -- herb alpert performed in the 1960's and performed with a successful artists like carol kane. early in his career he worked with lonny hall. herb alpert and lonny hall are

out with their very first collaboration, a new cd called "anything goes." we are glad you have joined us. >> there are so many things that wal-mart is looking forward to doing, like helping people live better. but mostly, we are looking forward to building strong relationships. because of your help, the best is yet to come. >> nationwide insurance problem supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance, working to improve financial literacy and economic empowerment that comes with it. ♪ nationwide is on your side >> and by contributions to your pbs stations from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ \

çtavis: we are pleased and honored to welcome her robert and of lani hall to this program. they founded a&m records and would become one of the most successful in the producing history. he founded the tijuana brass. it would include sam cooke's wonderful world. just a few years after performing at a&m he met a beautiful and talented singer, lani hall. she was discovered by sergio mendes and went on to sing for brazil '66. before the first time in at their illustrious careers, herbert and lani teamed up together and it is called a&

"anything goes" and here she is. >> ♪ daud you know you never can win ♪ i need to stop before i begin because i've got you under my skin and i love you under my skin and i've got you under my skin ♪ tavis: almost 40 years to gather accurate -- 40 years together. [laughter] the obvious question, what took so long? >> to do a cooperative project? we were both doing music purists -- we were both doing

music. i was doing latin and herb was doing more jazz and producing. we did our concert with a sergio mendes to celebrate the 40th anniversary of brazil '66 in 2006 and a drummer, michael shapiro, was so excited that we did a few songs and he kept hounding us, why don't you put a group together, let's play together. and finally, we looked at each other and said, if not now, when are we going to do that? and we decided to do it. tavis: the condition sound right, as you just explain, to do the project when you did, but prior to that, there had never been a thought about it? >> well, we had work together, but no, we really did not. there was an album that i adored when i was growing up with nancy wilson and cannonball adderly and i had always wanted to do something like that, you know,

having a conversation with the musician that is plain. that is really what we kind of went for with this. but in our own way with our own voice. tavis: i want to go way back and then come forward again. because i respect marriages and after almost 40 years i do not who should i ask the question of how you met? >> i will take the question. tavis: take the question, mr. alpert. >> i will take door no. 4. [laughter] in 1966, addition -- auditions for a&m and i walked into the auditions and i was more thinking about the sound of the group then looking at lonny, but we signed the group to ann a&m and we started traveling with

brazil '66 and sergio. lani and i became friends. there was like a two-year time frame, a year and a half, it might have been eight months. [laughter] we became very good friends and we are still great friends. we are some -- it has still been a great experience for me. she has changed my life. she is my guardian angel. tavis: watch how this works at home. those of you who are married, i asked who should i ask -- those of you are married, you know how this works. i asked who should i ask, but narwhal askedlani to tell that -- now i will ask lani to answer the same question. >> i have something to add pureed [laughter] in 1960 to two -- in 1962 i was doing a lloyd paxton show and

she happendt to see me and she was living about -- a living in chicago at the time as she was about nine or 10. >> i was 16 tavis: -- i was 16. tavis: [laughter] >> i was prepared to meet him. i knew what he looked like. tavis: do you recall about that our vision in 1966? >> i recall asking him to drive me home. it [laughter] tavis: that was left out of the story. he was actually checking you out at the audition. so much so, that action -- after the audition he had to drive you home. and what did you say? >> icet no. >> but i year-and-a-half, two years, eight months later. [laughter] >> i year-and-a-half she was calling me mr. hubbard.

-- mr. alpert. tavis: after spending that eight months, two years together, you both knew you had a level of music -- a love of music, what did you know about a a a lot of each other? >> for some reason, i never thought i would fall in love. when i felt the power of that and the transformation that it crossed in need -- that it caused in thme, i had never felt that kind of force and power and that is what did it fome. tavis: i cannot leave this hanging. i have got to come back and get this now. i know there are people watching that have had this feeling. they have had that feeling that they do not ever think they are going to fall in love.

tell me why you think the spirit and your senior brazilian music. you are singing love music. -- you are singing brazilian music. you are singing love music. >> i have always felt very passionate about things and music is definitely a passion of mine, but to really give myself to a person and be that trusting and open my heart to someone to be that vulnerable, i just really did not think i had that in may. i did not think i could do that. i was just too guarded. and i had never met someone with such kindness before. herb has a tremendous amount of kindness and i started to believe that it was real. and once that happened, that is when my heart open. tavis: once you got past her

calling mr. alpert, something happened to you as well. >> you know, i group in a very quiet home. i was very shy. and i had a lot of pent-up feelings. i did not know how to identify. and lani just had this in eight ability to explore some of the things i was thinking about. i was not as happy as i thought i could be because i had the american dream come true. i had the americas, the tijuana brass, and i was doing concert. but i did not really experience it because i was too worried about the sound, the audience, are they hearing it properly, is it coming across? it was a little overwhelming. i came out of planning weddings and parties. this thing hit and all of a sudden i was thrust into this much bigger picture. lani was there to identify some

feelings that were trapped in may. one of the reasons we are doing this tour and we are recording this cd is that i wanted to see if i could have fun playing. if i could have concerts' and have the joy and experience the joy of doing it. this is what is happening. this is why that album, that cd is, i think my joyful. it is honest. it is made with a true expression of our love for each other and the feelings that i now have. tavis: i am fascinated by that comment you just made. tell me about that process of coming to find joy in what you do, even if you do it well. for all your site it was joyous for you, you were still doing it well -- for all of the years it was joined lesjoyless for you ua certain time, tell me about that. tavis: i had a pivotal

experience in germany in 1969. iç was on stage and suddenly, i was in the third were watching the band and myself and i've been thinking, man, this guy on stage seemed like he was having a good time, but why doesn't he feel that good when he gets off the stage and he is in the middle of a party or one-on-one with somebody? there was a real disconnect between how i feel when i complained -- i feel like i make a joyful music -- what i am playing, i feel like i make a joyful music. i tried to be as honest as i can. that honesty usually translates into a positive feeling. i was trying to find, how could i put those two elephant -elemes together. and until i was feeling -- >> more balanced. tavis: are you're a therapist?

[laughter] >> how much your iou? -- how much do i owe you? [laughter] tavis: when somebody goes on a journey and says they ran into joy, i want to know that. >> yeah, that is a good question. i will have to assess this out to really lay it out in a work level. tavis: butlani had something -- but lani had something to do with it, obviously. >> she did very much. how do you explain it? we were watching what we did with forest whitaker and forest played charlie parker. and when you think of jolie parker, can you explain why you love his solos -- when you think of charlie parker, can you explain why you love his solos?

it is one of those things that you cannot put into words. i spent a good part of my life in the other level of, it's a feeding, you know? in 1962 when i recorded, if you liked the movie, great, if you do not, i am ok with it. >> he is such an artist in so many terms. he is such an intuitive, feeling person. he can express himself through painting, sculpture, music easily. it flows out of him like ia rivr in spring. tavis: obviously, you both have a love for music, as we both know. you were talking about joy. what made you know, lani, that

music was your gift? i am going to ask you the same question. >> now i am prepared. [laughter] tavis: you get a heads up here. but how did you know that music was your gift? >> well, i thought everyone sang. i thought everyone was doing what i was doing. it did not occur to me that anyone was doing a thing different than i was for a long time. i was kind of a closet singer, stohr was not out there singing for a lot of people. i was just singing in my room with my albums and june kristie and frank sinatra and judy garland. i was just in my room singing with these artists. then when i joined brazil '66, i kind of thought everyone could do what i was doing. i thought everyone could sing in portuguese. you just learned phonetically

and you can do it. i did not realize there was some kind of gift there. until her started really saying -- until herb started really saying, you know, you have your own style. a lot of people do not have that yet. they tried to sound like somebody else. he started bringing that out in me. you know, through self examination, through my own journey as a woman. i had to start looking at myself and seeing, well, where are my strengths and weaknesses and how can i make myself stronger in the weaknesses and how can i really appreciate what i can do? and that is how it evolved. tavis: you started playing so young. >> a serdar plankinton when i was 8. it took awhile before you can -- i started playing when i was 8. it took awhile before you can make any sense of a trumpet.

when i was in high school, we had a trio called the fairfax trio. we entered the right talent a about zero and our little trio -- tavis: just like the old school " the idoamerican idol." [laughter] >> i was like the trumpet in the band and orchestra. then when i was sent into the army, they sent me into kentucky and i was shocked that i was around 12. -- a trumpet players becker play higher and the louder and faster than me. -- i was around 12 trumpet players who could play hire and louder and faster than me. i had to come up with my own sound. i started working on that. i got touched with that with

thatles paul les paul did wheree layered the sound on top of itself. i tried the machine and about the ninth time all you could hear was his, but there was this the sound coming out and that was the genesis of the tijuana brass sound. tavis: we talked about your being a kid and we talked by your being in the military. we are going to come to a&m in just a second. but i saw usc the other day and i know they want to forget what happened. >> serdar ride. tavis: i note -- >> so do i.. tavis: i know you do too. but tell me about that experience at a&m.

>> we were playing pictures by mr. ski and i was in the back row and the orchestra was playing and i was leaning forward and thinking, what a beautiful sound. you can hear the stereo coming across the orchestra and i was listening and i forgot to come in. i had my part, but i got so engaged in what i was listening to i forgot the whole thing. it was at that point i realized i did not want to play other people's notes. i wanted to play my own notes. i was into the we are strong and the great clifford brown and i thought -- into louis armstrong and the great clifford brown and i thought, that is what i want to do. tavis: you go from having that moment of epiphany about your music to starting a record label where you are allowing other people to promulgate and promote and expose other people. i know this is a question you

have been asked 1000 times, but please hang in with me for a second. tell me about a&m and how that came to be. >> prior to a&m -- i do not know if you remember sam cooke and lou adler. i did some records and a are disenchanted with the record industry. this guy said i should be in movies and i thought, okay, put me in. i took lessons and i really did not have it. i did not have the real thing. i was writing songs all along and i wrote this song that i thought was great for an artist that was recording for rca victor. i called the director -- and he recognized my name because of the sam cooke, and other stuff. i was playing a song on the piano for this guy and he said,

i like it and why don't you record it? i said, me? and he said, yeah. so, i recorded at rca for about a year. shorty rogers was my a &r man and i was in the studio and listening to a playback. and it was like a white on white on white. i'm in the control room listening to the playback and i'm thinking, it could use a little more space. i go to the control panel and i put my hand on the base and the engineer slaps' my hand. tavis: [laughter] >> i said, what is wrong? tavis: [laughter] >> he said, do not ever touch that again. and i said, is this company supposed to revolve around the artist? i also had an idea for the double trumpeting. and he said, you cannot do it. it is against union regulation. tavis: [laughter]

>> i am thinking, if i ever get a chance toç have my own company, it is going to revolve around the artist. and a handshake. i met jerry moss and we started a&m on a handshake. the only time we never signed anything was when we sold the company years later. it was on a handshake. it was a beautiful experience. we had some of the best artists in the world reporting for us. we reached the point where artists were calling us to record. tavis: herb is a modest guy. it started with a hand slap, than a handshake and when they sold that company it was $500 million, if i recall. lani, tell me about "anything goes." >> it is a love affair.

it is a list of songs that occurred and i had been riding through the years. -- that herb and i had been riding through the years. tavis: how did you narrow it down to just 14? >> well, we had about 40 and we decided to do some songs from the show. some are instrumental, some are brazilian, two are original and the rest are american songbook. the arrangements are where our signature is. hearing the songs that people have heard through the decades in a fresh way where you have just never heard it like that before. tavis: were you intended by that, or did you welcome the challenge of doing your own flavor on these songs? >> we could not have done it any other way. there was no reason to do the songs the way other people had done them. there just wasn't -- was not any

reason. that is where the fun was, putting our flavor on it. tavis: i'm counting 14 on the cd. i am not a math major, but you started with 40 or 42 and there are only 14. this has been so well received. it sounds to me like there is material left for another projects. -- another project. >> we will see what happens. we do not have any solid plans. we are just grateful that we could be doing this together and making this our life right now >> and the beauty part for me is that when we started, we wanted to play some small clubs. i thought, oh, man, i'm going to be in a situation where people are going to be calling out, play, "spanish fleet." and we have not encountered that. it has been a great experience.

tavis: as is the story of their lives, it is a good experience. it is a wonderful love story, a wonderful record. and i know you will want to add it to your collection thank you for coming on. an honor to meet you. >> thank you for having us. tavis: it is my delight that is our show tonight. i will see you back here next time on pbs. until then, good night from l.a., thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. ♪ >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs got bored. -- pbs.org.

tavis: i'm tavis, we will have my pants and david duchovny next time. >> there are so many things that wal-mart is looking forward to doing, like helping people live better. but mostly, we are looking forward to helping build strong rural communities and relationships because with your help, the best is yet to come. >> nationwide probably supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance, working to improve financial literacy and the eight -- economic empowerment that comes with it. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ >> and by contributions to your pva stations from viewers like you. thank you -- to your pbs stations from viewers like you. thank you. ♪