Herb Alpert and Lani Hall at the Café Carlyle The festive sound of Herb Alpert's trumpet is instantly recognizable and always welcome; its effervescence makes you happy. Hearing him play in person on Tuesday evening at the Café Carlyle, where he and his wife, the singer Lani Hall, are appearing with a trio (Michael Shapiro on drums, Bill Cantos on piano and Hussain Jiffry on electric bass) I thought of the m's: minimalism, modesty and merriment. The striking absence of a swollen ego in the Alpert aesthetic was embodied in his 1968 hit, "This Guy's in Love With You," which he sang in a nonsinger's voice, sounding like an affable next-door neighbor contentedly humming to himself. In its way his trumpet playing - muted staccato notes in short melodious phrases with Mexican and Brazilian inflections and steady underlying beats - is just as unassuming. In Mr. Alpert's hands even the bullfighting fanfares of mariachi are tempered. If his muted sound, with its abbreviated notes, has always evoked Miles Davis in his cool period, his sunny emotional attitude is the opposite of Davis's introspective mutterings. In his playing there is a complete absence of noir and all that term implies. It would be a mistake to think that what Mr. Alpert has been doing so successfully for than half a century (he turns 77 on March 31) is carelessly tossed off, although he makes it look that way. His music embodies a philosophy of good will that seems to emanate naturally from a performer with no axes to grind. He and Ms. Hall, an alumnus of Sergio Mendes and Brasil "66, whom he married in 1974, convey the mutual delight of longtime sweethearts who are still in love. Tuesday's opening-night show led off with a speedy "Bésame Mucho," its choppy phrases exploding in short little bursts and continued in the same vein. The program interspersed popular standards with Brazilian songs and a medley of hits from his Tijuana Brass days, including "The Lonely Bull" and "A Taste of Honey." Ms. Hall followed the Alpert philosophy. With Sergio Mendes and Brasil "66 her singing was as much a textural ingredient of the upbeat music as a solo voice. It blended more than it stood out. Before singing Irving Berlin's "Let's Face the Music and Dance" she remarked that the lyrics" ominous suggestion to live it up before the sky falls applied as much to the present as to the late 1930"s. But even as she pointedly emphasized the warning, "Soon we'll be without the moon, humming a different tune," she radiated friendliness, good cheer and faith in the future. Herb Alpert and Lani Hall perform through March 10 at the Café Carlyle, 35 East 76th Street, Manhattan; (212) 744-1600, thecarlyle.com.