Herb Alpert Albums Ranked

Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter who led Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s. During the same decade, he co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. Throughout his career, Alpert has recorded 28 albums that have landed on the Billboard 200 chart, five of which became No. 1 albums ; while also achieving 14 platinum albums and 15 gold albums. Alpert is the only musician to hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 as both a vocalist (“This Guy’s in Love with You”, 1968) and an instrumentalist (“Rise”, 1979). Alpert has reportedly sold 72 million records worldwide. He has received many accolades, including a Tony Award, and eight Grammy Awards, as well as the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2006, he was inducted as into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Alpert was awarded the National Medal of Arts by Barack Obama in 2013. Here are all of Herb Alpert albums ranked.

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10. South Of The Border 

“Another wonderful album by Herb and his Tijuana Brass. This album is almost as great as his Whipped Cream and Other Delights album but this album doesn’t have a naked woman covered in whipped cream. So this is his second greatest album. This album has fantastic renditions of “The Girl From Ipanema”, “Hello, Dolly!”, and “South of the Border”. creates a very relaxing mood and is just a treat to listen to, exspecially if you like brass bands”

9. Greatest Hits 

“Long-since made obsolete by later CD collections, this is none-the-less a quick introduction to Herb Alpert’s 1960s material. As good as it is, I would still recommend picking up a number of the albums for a better variety of his songs or just stick with the later compilations to save you from too much duplication.”

8. Definitive Hits 

“Great collection of classic Herb Alpert songs, both from his Tijuana Brass period and his solo albums. The problem is, it’s only one disc. This would have been served better by having one disc of Tijuana Brass material and a second of solo songs, especially since this only concentrates on three of his actual solo releases. On top of that, two of the songs are pop collaborations featuring Janet Jackson and Lisa Keith. “Diamonds” is a good song, but definitely not definitive of the majority of Alpert’s music.”

7. What Now My Love 

“By What Now My Love Herb Alpert has settled into a formula, and it is becoming a bit too familiar. Regardless, the title track was another massive hit, and in fact the album starts off strong with the first three tracks. Despite continuing the usual with some upbeat pseudo-mariachi numbers combined with pop covers and standards, there is a slight change in the production. It is starting to show signs of what would become smooth jazz in the next decade. Whether that’s a good thing or not is up for interpretation.”

6. Second Wind 

“There’s a lot to love about this CD. First, it’s Herb Alpert, superb musician and arranger of music, secondly, it’s Herb Alpert without the Tijuana Brass so he’s playing his original jazz style the way he was probaly taught growing up as a budding trumpet player. Thirdly, the music is a perfect blend of soul and funk the way it was meant to be.”

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5. The Lonely Bull 

“Herb Alpert’s friend Sol Lake composed “The Lonely Bull”, originally under a different title, but Alpert re-arranged it to fit his impressions of a bullfight he had seen in Tijuana. With a twangy guitar riffs, recorded shouts, female vocal interludes and Alpert’s trumpet blasting out the main theme, he and his fledgling A&M Records had a massive hit on their hands.”

4. The Beat Of The Brass 

“A great album by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass. This album produced in 1968 was the end of an era. It was the last vinyl album produced in both monaural and stereo. Little did we know then that vinyl stereo’s days were numbered also. The advent of CD was just around the corner (1982).”

3. Rise 

“‘Rise’ was made during the disco era, and it shows (‘Behind the Rain’, which is a wee bit funky), ‘Rotation’ and ‘Rise’ are the best tracks. Rise is surprisingly funky in places, especially on the track ‘Rotation’, and ‘Street Life’, even if its funk light. Well, funk was pretty big in the 70’s and disco was merging with it, so no surprise on this mostly instrumental album (‘Love Is’ has a somewhat corny vocal repetitious ‘love is sharing, love is feeling’ bad track).”

2. Going Places! 

“Heaven forbid that I should have only one Herb album, but if it were true, this would be the one. I acquired Herbs first 10 albums all at once, and this one turned out to be my favorite. It just seems the most consistent, and with the most classic TJB sound of all. As I listen to the record again, I am hard pressed to find a song that isn’t great.”

1. Whipped Cream & Other Delights 

“The classic sexy cover. Often imitated but never surpassed! This is the one that has the big food related hits, Whipped Cream, Lemon Tree, A Taste of Honey! Most everyone has heard these selections, but my favorite is Tangerine. A super smooth bosa nova arrangement that is the ultimate in relaxing. A great arrangement which shows that even the songs of the 1940’s sound good in modern arrangements! Classic Alpert!”