Herb Alpert has had an absolutely amazing career. He was born March 31, 1935 in Los Angeles, California and began playing trumpet when he was eight years old. He worked for Keen Records as their A&R man (Artist and Repertoire), produced the first Jan & Dean recording session, and co-wrote Wonderful World for Sam Cooke with Lou Adler, who would later start his own label, Dunhill Records. In 1962, Herb Alpert formed A&M Records with Jerry Moss, and the label went one to become one of the most successful independently-owned record companies in the world. And I was fortunate to work for A&M Records from 1975 to 1986, becoming Vice-President of A&R for A&M Canada.
For the Tijuana Brass records recorded between 1962 and early 1965, when he formed his own band, Herb had been using studio musicians, many of whom were part of The Wrecking Crew.
Herb Alpert is the only artist from the rock era to hit the Billboard Hot 100 Number One spot with both a vocal and an instrumental record!
This week, as part of our annual Wordless Wonders Instrumental Gems Special on Treasure Island Oldies, Voice Your Choice spotlights Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass with two of their signature songs, Tijuana Taxi and The Lonely Bull. Cast your vote for your favourite by clicking the Voice Your Choice button on any page of the website. Then select the song. We'll play the winning tune in Hour 3 of next week's show.
