Herb Alpert’s Ninth

Herb Alpert's Ninth is the ninth album by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, released in 1967. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart and spent 18 weeks in the Top 40. Its cover, in addition to containing some still photos from Brass concerts, includes a pop-culture joke: it shows Ludwig van Beethoven appearing to wear a sweatshirt bearing Alpert's face at a time when sweatshirts bearing Beethoven's face were popularized by Howard Gossage. The title was also a play on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, though no part of Beethoven's work actually appears in the album tracks. However, the album contains a medley of music from the opera Carmen, centering on "Habanera" and also including portions of some of the group's earlier hits: "Spanish Flea", "A Taste of Honey", "Whipped Cream", "What Now My Love", "Zorba the Greek" and "Tijuana Taxi".