Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass

See Herb Alpert Biography for Herb's career from the 1950s through the 2020s.

The ALBUMS/RARITIES/REMASTERS link above gives you each Tijuana Brass album sessionography, history, official videos and Herb Alpert's thoughts on the album. 

THE TIJUANA BRASS IN CONCERT

There were four groups that performed concerts as the Tijuana Brass or T.J.B.

In 1965 Herb Alpert assembled six musicians who became known as the Tijuana Brass. The original group toured from 1965 through 1969. They were: 
     Nick Ceroli--drums
     Bob Edmondson--trombone, percussion
     Lou Pagani--piano, vibes
     John Pisano--guitar
     Pat Senatore--bass
     Tonni Kalash--trumpet

The second touring Tijuana Brass,  was known as the T.J.B. and toured in 1974 and 1975. Original Tijuana Brass members were John Pisano, Bob Edmondson, and Julius Wechter. New members were:
     Vince Charles--steel drums
     Papito Hernandez--bass
     Bob Findley--trumpet
     Dave Frishberg--piano
     Steve Schaeffer--drums

The 1984 Tijuana Brass included the original Brass (John Pisano, Nick Ceroli, Bob Edmondson, Julius Wechter) plus Bob Findley from the 1970's T.J.B. They were joined by: 
     Ken Kaplan--trumpet
     Jimmy Imperial--trumpet
     Sal Macaluso--piano
     John Pattituci--bass

TIJUANA BRASS 1962-1965

Jerry Moss gave The Tijuana Brass their name.

Herb Alpert paid Julius Wechter $15 to play marimba on "The Lonely Bull." The voices on the song were Alpert's the mandolin player and a girl singer.

In 1963 "The Lonely Bull" single reached #1 in Australia. This was the first #1 record for Alpert and A&M.

Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass Volume 2 was A&M's first album with an alternate back cover.

May 27 and 29, 1963 ads for the Tijuana Brass appearing at the Crescendo in Los Angeles.

The song "The Mexican Shuffle" was the first A&M Records and Almo/Irving song used in a television commercial. It became known as "The Teaberry Shuffle" for a Clark Gum company brand.

Jerry Moss came up with the idea for A&M's first concept album. When Herb Alpert decided to record a song titled 'Whipped Cream,' Jerry suggested that the rest of the songs have food titles.

   February 27, 1965 concert by the Tijuana Brass.

Whipped Cream and Other Delights was A&M's first #1 Billboard Pop Chart album.

During one month in 1965, Whipped Cream and Other Delights sold one million copies.

The single of "Whipped Cream" sold 150,000 copies in 1965.

In 1965, Alpert selected musicians to perform as the touring Tijuana Brass. Bill Dana wrote the comedy material the band used in concerts.

Between September 1963 and February 1965 Tijuana Brass old more than 5 million recordings worldwide.

A&M's first four Grammys were for the single "A Taste of Honey." It won Record of the Year, Best Instrumental Performance (Non-Jazz), Best Instrumental Arrangement and Best Engineered Recording.

The first active series single to have hits on both sides was "The Third Man Theme/A Taste of Honey" in 1965.

The Going Places album shipped gold in 1965 with advance orders of 1.3 million copies.

"Spanish Flea" was originally titled "Spanish Fly." Engineer Larry Levine renamed it when labeling the master tape.

TIJUANA BRASS HEYDEY 1966-1969

In 1966 the What Now My Love album sold 1.6 million copies in its first two weeks of release. It was the fastest selling A&M album to date. The first ITCC Gold Cartridge Award was given to What Now MyLove for tape sales of $250,000.

During April 1966 The Tijuana Brass had albums at #1, #2 and #3 on the Billboard chart.

The first picture sleeve released by A&M Records was the Tijuana Brass' "What Now My Love/Spanish Flea."

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass are Guinness World Book of Record holders. They sold 13.7M copies of six albums in 1966. They were the top selling artist for a one-year period. Their record sales have not been equaled. Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass are the only artist to ever have five albums in Billboard's Pop Album Chart simultaneously.

At the height of the Tijuana Brass tours in the mid-1960s, the group had 30 pieces of sound equipment that weighed two tons on stage.

John and Faith Hubley were signed to produce a series of short animated films for the Tijuana Brass in 1966. They won the Academy Award for short films for their work.

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass' Singer Special first aired in April 1967 on CBS. The special was the first CBS show to attain a higher rating when competing network NBC did a repeat broadcast in November of the same year.

In Australia during 1967 Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass was the first artist to sell 250,000 copies of an album in Australia. The Brass's tour of Australia was sold out at every show. The box office eclipsed the Beatles tour there. Herb Alpert's Ninth album sold 10,000 copies in the four days before Christmas in Australia.

In 1967 Billboard's Year End Top 10 saw the S.R.O. album at #7; Whipped Cream and Other Delights at #8, and Going Places at #9.

The Beat of the Brass was A&M's first gatefold album cover.

From May 11 through June 1, 1968 the TJB had nine albums on the Billboard chart.

TIJUANA BRASS 1970's

In May 1970 Herb Alpert received his 40th gold record award from Festival Records of Australia.

Coney Island New Music On A&M Records

"Spanish Flea" appeared in an episode of the television show "The Simpsons."

In 2014, the Australian Recording Industry Association ranked Going Places as its #12 album to stay in the Top 20. It stayed there for 17 weeks.

TIJUANA BRASS 2025

In February 2025, Herb will start a new tour with a new group of musicians. These musicians will be the fourth incarnation of the Tijuana Brass, and the only one not to feature any of the original members besides Alpert. He told Billboard, "A lot of people have asked; they want to hear that Tijuana Brass sound again, so I'm gonna do it and I'm excited about it. I always like the music. It always gave me a good feeling when I hear it, and I know a lot of people feel the same. It's gonna be fun for me to revisit that whole sound again and play some of the old standards -- 'The Lonely Bull,' 'Spanish Flea,' 'This Guy's In Love With You.'"