to many people. To generations of music fans, Alpert is the dark-haired, trumpet-playing songmaker whose name instantly brings to mind
memorable songs like “The Lonely Bull,” “A Taste of Honey,” “This Guy’s
in Love with You” and “Rise.” These are but a few of the tunes Alpert
recorded either as leader of the legendary Tijuana Brass or as an artist in
his own right, yielding 5 #1 popular hits, 8 Grammy awards, 14 Platinum
and 15 gold albums – plus a staggering 72 million albums sold worldwide.
To a global circle of musicians, Alpert’s name implies an immediately
recognizable group sound as well as a distinctly relaxed, economically-
spoken instrumental style. Trumpeters especially are hip to his musical
signature: “You hear three notes and you know it’s Herb Alpert” said Miles
Davis in 1989; “He gets right to the point of what he’s playing,” remarked
Wynton Marsalis more recently, “very melodic and nothing extraneous.”