Taste of Honey

Ken Maiuri’s Clubland: A Taste of Honey delights crowd at Florence’s Music on the Porch summer concert series

 

By KEN MAIURI

 

Wednesday, August 12, 2015
(Published in print: Thursday, August 13, 2015)

 

The striking green cover of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass’ “Whipped Cream & Other Delights” (and the inevitable parade of parodies that followed) is the main reason the 1965 record lives on in pop culture, but the instrumental music within is just as grabby. 

 

The fresh, peppy melodies were packed into bite-size confections, a sugar rush of trumpets and marimbas, plucky bass and percussion — a sweet tart sound in such demand in its day that it was borrowed liberally for TV themes and commercials. It was a true ’60s phenomenon. 

 

When I was a kid, my mom had the “Whipped Cream” LP in her record collection, and the 6-year-old me loved the pert and catchy tunes. Maybe I loved it too much: one day I dropped the record, creating a crack that split deep into the first song.  I knew that meant I couldn’t play the album without damaging the turntable needle, but my loving and handy grandfather had a solution: He took a big pair of steel scissors from his workshop and cut off the damaged part of the record. I still have that stunted, ragged-edged, unplayably scratched, cherished album.

 

Herb Alpert’s instrumental sound has tickled people of all generations since it hit the airwaves, including the eight guys in the local Tijuana Brass tribute band, Taste of Honey. The jaunty Palmer-based octet, which started about a year-and-a-half ago, plays ace versions of Alpert classics, and did so for more than 200 people at the Florence Music on the Porch concert series outside the Florence Civic Center last Thursday.

 

Taste of Honey performed 23 songs, and they wasted no time getting to the good stuff, kicking off with one of the most memorable Tijuana Brass recordings, “Spanish Flea.” The song’s famous tick-tock opening brought an instant smile to a lot of faces, mine included.

 

Trumpeter Paul Brozek (who also researches and creates most of the band’s arrangements) told the crowd that Taste of Honey tries hard to make its versions as close to the original recordings as possible, and the members did definite justice to that singular ’60s sound (much of which was created in the studio by members of the “Wrecking Crew,” aka the best session musicians in the business).

 

Trumpeter and bandleader Mike Tourville did most of the emcee work, wiping his brow with a scarlet handkerchief he kept slung over his shoulder. Drummer Danny Roy (who’s been playing with Tourville in various bands since 1974) kept things snappy and simple, giving percussionist Johnny Cieplik lots of room to let his swingin’ shakers be heard loud and clear. Neal Schermerhorn used his keyboards to add all sorts of accurate magic to the songs — deep woody marimba, plucky banjo, tinny barroom piano, Moog-esque organ sounds. David Bussell played trombone, his starring moment of the night being his expert blast of the opening note of “A Taste of Honey.” Guitarist Mark Roy and bassist Marc Graveline completed the lineup.  They didn’t go for fancy matching suits like the Tijuana Brass did in its day, just untucked shirts and shorts for most of the guys. Their focus was the music itself, one short and sweet gem after another, full of snappy spirit: “Bittersweet Samba,” “Green Peppers,” “Tijuana Taxi,” “Whipped Cream” and more (most written by Sol Lake, Julius Wechter, Ervan “Bud” Coleman and Alpert).

 

Under the towering maple tree by the far side of the porch, a couple of kids danced exuberantly and breathlessly, punching the air, stomping around.  It was a serene scene, with happy folks on blankets and lawn chairs all over the grass around the porch stage. Friends down front ate dinner from plastic plates, one woman near the far edge of the audience knitted studiously and sometimes looked up over her glasses to keep an eye on the band, bicyclists pulled over to watch, moms swung their kids around, volunteers sold fresh popcorn and beverages.

 

Eventually most of the kids in attendance ended up together in the open area down front, a happy mob just running in circles, taking turns leaping off the front stair.

 

As Taste of Honey played its final song, the brisk and light “What Now My Love,” the setting sun threw one last golden glow onto puffy ripples of pink and white clouds behind the Civic Center, and I realized something else that made the concert special — I never saw anyone looking at their phones. They were looking at the band, their kids, or each other. Or sometimes, for a few seconds, a tasty bag of salt-shocked popcorn.

 

Don’t worry if you missed it — Taste of Honey has more local shows planned before the summer ends, including appearances at Dufresne Park in Granby Tuesday, at 6 p.m., and the Belchertown Fair Sept. 19 at 2:30 p.m.

For more info about Taste of Honey, visit www.tasteofhoneyband.com. For more info about this season’s remaining concerts at the Florence Civic Center, see the Facebook page for the Florence Music on the Porch series.