Herb & Lani at Vibrato November 5, 2014

[JAZZ4JEFF]

I just experienced my first visit to Vibrato to see Herb & Lani on November 5 . I must say, Vibrato really knocked me over. It is a beautiful restaurant with many of Herb’s exquisite paintings and sculptures decorating the restaurant. The food was incredible. From the potato leek soup to the butterscotch pudding, it was terrific. The staff was warm and friendly. I really can’t rave enough about Vibrato.


Herb & Lani were wonderful. They were both loose and very talkative. We were seated 10 feet away from the stage, so we enjoyed watching the communication between Herb & the other musicians. The set list was very similar to their recent appearances. The TJB medley got the biggest response of the night. He only agreed to sing “This guys in love with you” if the audience sang along with him. We did and it was fun. Lani’s medley featured a great version of “Mas que nada”. Just two weeks earlier, I saw Sergio Mendes at the Cerritos center. His version of “Mas que nada” featured a rap artist. It was nice to hear Lani’s signature version. The encore did not feature the previous closer of “If I were a rich man” & What now my love”. The encore was their Jobim medley.


Lani was in fine voice. In this intimate setting, you really get to see how well she relates to her audience. Herb was very talkative. Three times in the evening, he asked the audience if they wanted to contribute with questions. He tackled some fun topics like his appearance in the movie “The ten commandments”, the origins of his record “The lonely bull” and how he convinced Lani to leave Sergio Mendes. After 40 years of seeing Herb in concert, this was the most memorable. His playing seems so effortless. Bravo to Herb & Lani for an amazing dinner and concert. My wife I were celebrating our wedding anniversary, and our waitress brought us flowers for the occasion. A classy restaurant and even classier performance by Herb & Lani.

Jeff Gehringer

 

[Doug Castleman]

My wife and I went to the show the following evening, also our first trip there. When we got there for the (excellent) dinner prior to the show, we were both shocked that they sat us down right in front of Herb's microphone stand.It was closer to me than my wife's chair! I've tried to get to see Herb and Lani there many times, but it had always sold out, and now, for the first time, the best possible place to watch and listen to my all-time favorite musician and, for that matter, celebrity. My wife also enjoys his music and had a smile the whole time we were there, and not like a crazy person either, LOL.
They played nearly non-stop for ninety minutes...and the set was just like JAZZ4JEFF described here. The music was amazing, as everyone here can believe. Herb plays better than ever, and as bit of a trumpet player myself, it was very fun to watch him closely play his horn, and kinda weird with him often looking right down at me in return, or, more often, my wife, LOL. Herb is actually pretty funny and loose, as usual. His joke about not getting the "go home" signal from the third base coach when he was seeing Lani early on was pretty funny, for example.
If you people ever get a chance to see the Vibrato Grill and Jazz Club, go! Even if Herb isn't there, the place is really great.