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The Baja Marimba Band was an American musical group led by marimba player Julius Wechter. Formed by producer Herb Alpert after his own Tijuana Brass, [1] the Baja Marimba Band outlasted the Tijuana Brass by several years in part due to TV producer Chuck Barris, who included the group's music on his game shows in the 1970s.
During his youth, Julius Wechter took up several percussion instruments including the vibes and marimba. In 1956 his group the Julius Wechter Quartet released a jazz album entitled Linear Sketches.
In 1958, Julius joined Martin Denny's band where he played marimba (replacing Arthur Lyman) as well as numerous other percussion instruments. Four years later he was paid $15 as a session man on Herb Alpert's debut album, The Lonely Bull . Wechter soon composed "Spanish Flea" for Alpert, which became a hit for him. Alpert encouraged Wechter to form his own group, The Baja Marimba Band, to help cash in on the faux-Mexican popularity of Alpert's own Tijuana Brass.
In 1962, the Baja Marimba Band was formed using session men to supplement Wechter. These musicians included, at one time or another, Roy Caton, Tony Terran, Pete Jolly, Lew McCreary, Nick Ceroli, Hal Blaine, Tommy Tedesco, Leon Russell, and Emil Richards.
The band hit the charts with its first single "Comin' in the Back Door" and recorded a dozen albums for A&M, as well as being Alpert's support act. The main lineup from 1965 to 1971 was Bernie Fleischer on reeds, Ervan "Bud" Coleman on guitar (replaced upon Coleman's death in 1967 by Charlie Chiarenza), Frank DeCaro on rhythm guitar, Dave Wells on trombone, Lee Katzman on trumpet, Curry Tjader on percussion, Mel Pollan on Fender bass, and Frank DeVito on drums. Most if not all of the band's musicians were seasoned jazz musicians who performed with such artists as Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Don Ellis, Terry Gibbs, Buddy DeFranco, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie.
The group would appear on stage dressed in sombreros and old clothes, with fake mustaches, smoking cigars, and drinking beer, all of which was regarded as humorously exaggerated Mexican stereotypes. The group appeared in goofy group photos on their album covers, stylishly created by Peter Whorf Graphics, and added a comedic allure.
Seen by many as a marketing gimmick, the group rode the wake created by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass and Sérgio Mendes and Brasil '66 in the musically fertile mid-1960s. The albums were cross marketed successfully by A&M, with images of Baja Marimba Band albums appearing on the record sleeves of other A&M products. All three acts were the staple of A&M during this period. The content was considered "adult contemporary" or "easy listening" and consisted mainly of standards, originals and pop covers. Despite the humorous album covers, the music inside was a light and sophisticated mixture of bossa nova, jazz, and pop elements. The band performed in Maxwell House coffee commercials, during the peak of the group's popularity.
All three groups lost momentum by the end of the 1960s as the genre faded away. By the late 1960s, Alpert's Tijuana Brass had disbanded, but the Baja Marimba Band stayed together for one more album on A&M in 1971 called As Time Goes By. They had a brief reunion in 1973 with an album called The Baja Marimba Band's Back on Bell Records. During the 1970s, Julius and his wife, Cissy, collaborated on film scores and musicals.
One last reunion took place in the 1980s which lasted a couple of years and produced an album called Naturally in 1982. It featured Julius Wechter on marimba and three band alumni, Bernie Fleischer on reeds, guitarist Charlie Chiarenza and trombonist Dave Wells. New to the band were: Carmen Fanzone on horns, Jules Greenberg on 2nd marimba/percussion, Harvey Newmark on bass, and Kim Stallings on guitar. Original drummer Frank DeVito toured with the group during this time, but retired and was replaced for the recording by drummer Ed Roscetti. Still later, Julius Wechter formed a new group in the early 1990s called The Baja Marimbas with marimbaist Jules Greenberg, and they released one album, called New Deal.
After Wechter's death from lung cancer in 1999, the Baja Marimba Band disbanded.
| Year | Single (A-side, B-side) Both sides from same album except where indicated | Chart positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US AC | |||
| 1963 | "Comin' In The Back Door" b/w "December's Child" | 41 | Baja Marimba Band | |
| 1964 | "Moonglow/Picnic Theme" b/w "Acapulco 1922" | 121 | ||
| "The Woody Woodpecker Song" b/w "Up Cherry Street" (from Baja Marimba Band) | Rides Again | |||
| "Wincle Lamoyan Coan" b/w "Pedro's Porch"—Part 2 (from Baja Marimba Band) | Non-album tracks | |||
| "Baja Ska" b/w "Samba De Orfeu" (from Baja Marimba Band) | ||||
| 1965 | "Juarez" b/w "Guacamole" | Rides Again | ||
| "Brasilia" b/w "Goin' Out The Side Door" | ||||
| "For Animals Only" b/w "Yellow Bird" | For Animals Only | |||
| 1966 | "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window" b/w "Puff (The Magic Dragon)" | |||
| "Yours" b/w "The Last Of The Red Hot Llamas" (from For Animals Only) | Watch Out! | |||
| "The Portuguese Washerwoman" b/w "Telephone Song" | 126 | 15 | ||
| "Ghost Riders In The Sky" b/w "Sabor A Mi" | 52 | 4 | ||
| 1967 | "The Cry Of The Wild Goose" b/w "Spanish Moss" (from Watch Out!) | 113 | 21 | Heads Up! |
| "Georgy Girl" b/w "Cabeza Arriba!" | 98 | 14 | ||
| "Along Comes Mary" b/w "The Wall Street Rag" (Non-album track) | 96 | 27 | Fowl Play | |
| "Fowl Play" b/w "Sounds Of Silence" | ||||
| 1968 | "Sunday Mornin'" b/w "Fiddler On The Roof" (from Fowl Play) | Do You Know The Way To San Jose | ||
| "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" b/w "Brasilia" (from Rides Again) | 109 | |||
| "I Say A Little Prayer" b/w "Do You Know The Way To San Jose" | ||||
| "Flyin' High" b/w "Les Bicyclettes De Belsize" | 125 | Those Were The Days | ||
| 1969 | "Big Red" b/w "Peru '68" | |||
| "I Don't Want To Walk Without You" b/w "I'll Marimba You" | 121 | Fresh Air | ||
| "Fresh Air" b/w "Wave" | ||||
| "Can You Dig It"—Part 1 b/w Part 2 | Non-album tracks | |||
| 1970 | "Picasso Summer" b/w "Samba Nuevo" (from Fresh Air) | |||
| 1971 | "As Time Goes By" b/w "Spanish Flea" | As Time Goes By | ||
| 1973 | "Theme From 'Deep Throat'" b/w "Do You Want To Dance" (from Jules Wechter & The Baja Marimba Band's Back) | Non-album track | ||
| "Anytime Of The Year" b/w "Taco Belle" | Jules Wechter & The Baja Marimba Band's Back | |||
Herb Alpert is an American trumpeter who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s. During the same decade, he co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. Alpert has recorded 28 albums that have landed on the Billboard 200 chart, five of which became No. 1 albums; he has scored 14 platinum albums and 15 gold albums. Alpert is the only musician to hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 as both a vocalist and an instrumentalist.
"Spanish Flea" is a popular song written by Julius Wechter in the 1960s with lyrics by his wife Cissy Wechter. The original version was recorded by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Cover versions of the song have been recorded by dozens of artists worldwide.
Whipped Cream & Other Delights is a 1965 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, called "Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass" for this album, released on A&M Records. It is the band's fourth full album and arguably their most popular release.
South of the Border is the third album by American easy listening brass band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, originally released in 1964. The name of the group, for this album, is "Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass".
What Now My Love is the sixth album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, released in 1966. It remained at #1 on the Billboard Album chart for nine weeks, the longest of any album released by the group. The cover photo, an outtake from Alpert's 1964 South of the Border album, features model Sandra Moss at the Patio del Moro apartment complex in West Hollywood.
Going Places is the fifth album by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. It was originally released by A&M Records in 1965 and has appeared in many formats.
Herb Alpert's Ninth is a 1967 album by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart and spent 18 weeks in the Top 40. Its cover, in addition to containing some still photos from Brass concerts, includes a pop-culture joke: it shows Ludwig van Beethoven appearing to wear a T-shirt bearing Alpert's face at a time when T-shirts bearing Beethoven's face were popular. The title was also a play on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, though no part of Beethoven's work actually appears in the album tracks. However, the album contains a medley of music from the opera Carmen, centering on "Habanera" and also including portions of some of the group's earlier hits: "Spanish Flea", "A Taste of Honey", "Whipped Cream", "What Now My Love", "Zorba the Greek" and "Tijuana Taxi".
S.R.O., is an album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, released in 1966. The title stands for "Standing Room Only," which is a term used to describe a sold-out performance where all the available seats are taken and only standing room remains. The album features the hit singles "The Work Song" and "Mame," as well as other popular tracks such as "Flamingo" and "Our Day Will Come." It was the seventh album released by the group and reached #2 on the Billboard 200 chart.
"Rise" is an instrumental written by Andy Armer and Randy 'Badazz' Alpert, first recorded in 1979 by trumpeter Herb Alpert. Released as a single from Alpert's solo album Rise, the song reached #1 on the Billboard charts. It is the instrumental sample for The Notorious B.I.G. hit "Hypnotize".
Julius Wechter was an American musician and composer who played the marimba and vibraphone. He also played various percussion instruments. He composed the song "Spanish Flea" for Herb Alpert and was leader of the Baja Marimba Band.
Sounds Like... is a 1967 album by the instrumental group Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, the group's eighth.
Christmas Album is a late-1968 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. It was the group's eleventh release. The LP edition of the album was issued twice. The original edition had the cover photography filling the front and back sides of the album jacket. For the reissue, the photos were reduced to half size and placed in the center of a white background. Although the Brass' albums were out of print for a good many years, the Christmas Album was released on CD in the 1980s, with annual reappearances in record stores at Christmastime. The album was re-released again on CD by the Shout!Factory label in 2006 as were many of the other Tijuana Brass albums. The Shout!Factory release restored the original artwork to the front cover and featured the original back cover on the included CD booklet. Another CD re-release occurred on October 23, 2015, this time restoring the original artwork to the front and back.
Rise is a 1979 album by Herb Alpert.
Ervan F. "Bud" Coleman was an American guitar and mandolin player, member of Baja Marimba Band, worked with Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, and who wrote the hit track, "Tijuana Taxi".
Fandango is a studio album by American musician Herb Alpert released on A&M Records in April 1982 with catalog number SP-3731.
You Smile – The Song Begins is a 1974 studio album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, though billed as "Herb Alpert and the T.J.B." It was the group's first regular studio album since 1969's The Brass Are Comin', and was arranged by Quincy Jones.
Bullish is a 1984 album released by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, though the Tijuana Brass was not involved in its making. The album was reissued in 2017. The music of the album is mostly electro-funk, with Alpert's characteristic trumpet in accompaniment. The album is mostly instrumental, though Lani Hall provides vocals on the track "Maniac". Describing the album in 1984, Alpert said, "I don't think of this as a backward-looking record ... It's very contemporary."
Summertime is a 1971 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. It consists of tracks assembled by Alpert's A&M Records label and was released during Alpert's hiatus from performing that occurred between the albums The Brass Are Comin' (1969) and You Smile – The Song Begins (1974).
Coney Island is a 1975 studio album by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, the second release that was billed as "Herb Alpert & The T.J.B." It followed the 1974 release of You Smile – The Song Begins. Both albums reflected personnel changes from the Brass that was disbanded after 1969's The Brass Are Comin'.
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