Herb Alpert's most fame came from his music as Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass which was very popular in the early to mid 60's. His solo work did not start till 1966 with Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66. His first major hit was the recording of Burt Bacharach's "This Guy's In Love With You" (1966) which hit #1 on the pop Billboard charts. His next major hit did materialize till 1979 with "Rise" (instrumental) also hit #1 on the pop Billboard charts. Herb Alpert to date is the only artist to hit #1 with both a vocal and an instrumental tune. One of my favorite songs at the time was "Rise". It does have a somewhat disco beat to it (it was era-appropriate at that time), but his playing hits very big notes with emphasis and power, but yet keeping all the notes in the upper part of the staff (high A is the highest note). Since I play the trumpet, I would try to mimic that full expressive sound he would get from his horn (not as easy as it seems). This album "Beyond" came out the year after "Rise", but there was no follow-on hit that made it big from this LP. However, it has some nice compositions from HA. Not sure on this LP (it did not mention), but for most of his career, HA played a Benge Chicago and Benge Burbank model trumpet. This was released on CD but has been out of print for sometime now. There is one used one for sale on Amazon for $147. Thus I have made this posting. My favorite cut from this LP is "Interlude for Erica".....Enjoy!
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Beyond in some ways is an extension of Rise, as it captures the same flavor but also adds new twists. It remains an awesome album and an immortal 1-2 punch - Rise Beyond.
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