Herb Ohta Herb Ohta Herb Ohta aka Ohta-San is an American Ukulele player born in 1934 in Hawaii who has recorded solo, as a group and with Andre Popp on the A&M Records label, which was co-owned by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. He is also known as "Ohta-San" in Japan and other Asian countries, which is a title of respect for the musician. Ohta was a boy when he was taught his first three chords on the ukulele by his mother. He entered an amateur contest at age 9 and won the $10 first prize. Three years later he met Eddie
Herb Alpert several groups including one-time A&M band Soul Asylum and by comedian Pat Cooper for his album "Spaghetti Sauce and Other Delights". The singles included the title cut, "Lollipops and Roses", and "A Taste of Honey". The latter won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. "Going Places" produced four more singles: "Tijuana Taxi", "Spanish Flea", "Third Man Theme", and "Zorba the Greek". "Tijuana Taxi" and "Spanish Flea" would be used in the 1966 Academy Award-winning animated short "A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature". The Brass covered the Bert Kaempfert tune "Happy Trumpeter", retitling it "Magic Trumpet".