Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass--Work Song (1966)

     It's not unusual today to see an artist take off on his own and start a record label. Nor is it strange to see them market themselves in a way that allows for the music to be heard on TV and in advertising. However all of those who are making it happen as moguls as well as musicians can look to Herb Alpert as the ground breaker.

     Along with Jerry Moss, they turned a cottage record company which was basically just Alpert on the roster, into a major force in popular music. The Tijuana Brass and then later Herb alone has sold over 72 million records worldwide. Not to mention that the music was marketed to advertisers and television shows which continued the growth of his popularity. Since it was Friday....I thought this song appropriate....happy Friday everyone!

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In Praise of: Herb Alpert

Believe it or not, there was a time in the mid 60's that one could not go anywhere without hearing Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. They certainly were not The Beatles in regards to record sales, although they did very well. Even if you can't remember the titles, any of the songs off of, "Whipped Cream and Other Delights", or "Going Places" will be recognizable. So instead of doing a bio, I thought it would be more fun to list some facts that you might not know about him.

1. Because of the flavor of the music, it has been assumed by many that Alpert was Mexican by heritage. In fact, Alpert was Jewish of Russian/Romanian ancestry.  He was born in LA and in the early 50's played trumpet in the USC Trojan Band.

 2. In 1957, he teamed up with Rob Weerts to write several hits of the era, including, "Baby Talk", by Jan and Dean, "Alley-Oop" by The Hollywood Argyles, and "Wonderful World" by Sam Cooke.

 3. In a day where it is common for a musician to dabble in business pursuits, Alpert teamed up with Jerry Moss to form Carnival Records in 1962. When another label was found with the same name, it was changed to A&M records. A very lucrative business, it was sold to PolyGram records in 1987 for a reported 500 million dollars.

  4. Part of the reason why the music could be found everywhere was Alpert's shrewd business sense about his own brand. Several of the songs off of the "Whipped Cream" album was featured on ABC's "The Dating Game" The Clark chewing gum company also used, "The Mexican Shuffle" in the ads for Teaberry Gum. We see some of the examples here....

5. He was the only person in the history of the charts to have an instrumental AND vocal song represented during the same time period. The vocal was the first of 3 No.1's that Albert recorded. "This Guy's In Love With You"

6. Alpert spends much of his time now as an abstract expressionist painter, however still breaks out the horn from time to time. His wife Lani Hall recorded a fine jazz album, "Anything Goes" on Concord Records.

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