What Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass Band can teach you about creativity

As a kid and budding music lover, I would often flip through my dad’s record collection. Pink Floyd, Willie Nelson, Enya — all were staples. He’s not a man to be pigeon-holed.

He also had a a huge collection of Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass Band. I would look at the provocative covers and listen to the exotic sounds of latino-inspired bull fight anthems like the Lonely Bull.

Interestingly, I just learned that no one in Herb Alpert’s band was Mexican or had any latino ancestry. Cultural appropriation aside, I think we can all learn something from Herb Alpert about creativity.

You often have to break out of the mold of what you know. You have to try new things. You have to put yourself out into the world. You have to break your habitual patterns.

Herb — a jazz musician and the son of a Ukrainian Jewish tailor  — got inspired to infuse the feeling he got attending a bullfight in Tijuana into a composition he was writing. Bam – his career was born.

This past weekend, I tried something new and very much out of my comfort level. I sat in Fort Greene Park here in Brooklyn and offered free 5-minute meditation instruction to anyone who sat next to me.

I met some incredible people and learned a bit more about myself in the process.

What will you do differently today? Have a different meal that usual? Go home a different route? Go to a museum you wouldn’t normally stop into?

The world is our creative oyster. Go and enjoy it! It’s good for you.

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