Herb Alpert ~ Rise 1979 Disco Purrfection Version

The #1 song on the Hot100 for the week ending October 20, 1979 was Herb Alpert’s “Rise“ 42 years ago on this day. A&M Records was the creation of Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962 to record Herb Alpert & His Tijuana Brass who scored many classic 60’s instrumentals but none hit #1 until Alpert recorded “This Guy’s In Love With You“ with his own voice as a valentine to his wife. His second #1 hit was the surprisingly sexy instrumental “Rise“ in 1979 right at the end of the disco juggernaut. That phat bass line is impossible to resist, so much so that it has been sampled and became a hip hop classic. The origins of the “Rise““ sessions began in late 1978 when disco was king and still gaining popularity. Alpert almost succumbed to the “let’s do disco updates of our hits“ wave but thought better and changed direction abandoning the album project ten minutes into the session. Cousin Randy Badazz (Alpert) then