Rise (instrumental)

"Rise" is an instrumental written by Andy Armer and Randy Badazz Alpert, and first recorded by trumpeter Herb Alpert. The instrumental track was included on Alpert's solo album Rise and released as a single in 1979. It reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in October of that year and remained in the top position for two weeks. Herb Alpert thus became the first (and only) artist to reach the top of the Hot 100 with a vocal performance ("This Guy's in Love with You", 1968) as well as an instrumental performance. "Rise" also spent one week atop the adult contemporary chart. "Rise" was successful on the other charts, peaking at number four on the R&B chart^[1] and number seventeen on the disco chart.^[2] The recording also received a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. Songwriters Andy Armer and Randy Badazz Alpert were both nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition.

"Rise" was originally recorded as an uptempo dance number, however, while recording the master at A&M studios, the drummer on the session, Steve Schaefer, strongly suggested that Herb and Randy try slowing the tempo down to 100bpm. Upon release, the instrumental received an unexpected burst of promotion: Jill Farren Phelps, musical director of the ABC soap opera General Hospital, decided to use "Rise" as the musical backdrop for the rape of Laura Webber by Luke Spencer. For several weeks afterward, the recording was played on the show to evoke the memory of Luke's act. The added exposure in an extremely popular program boosted sales to the point of selling more than one million copies.

Shortly after "Rise" became a hit in the United States, it became a hit in the United Kingdom when British disc jockeys were playing import copies of the record at the wrong speed.

In the 1981 Hindi movie Yaarana starring Amitabh Bachchan and Neetu Singh, Neetu Singh teaches Amitabh some dance moves to this tune. The piece almost plays full length as Amitabh masters disco dancing.

A sample of "Rise" is the entire musical groove of the 1997 number-one worldwide hit song, "Hypnotize", recorded by The Notorious B.I.G. and co-produced by Sean "Puffy" Combs. The sample is credited on both the single, "Hypnotize" and in the liner notes for the Notorious B.I.G's album, Life After Death.

In 1999, Brazilian saxophonist Léo Gandelman did a remake of "Rise" for his album "Brazilian Soul".

R&B singer Monica sampled the recording on the song I'm Back on her 2002 album All Eyez on Me (Monica album)

See also

• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1979 (U.S.)
• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1979 (U.S.)
• Luke Spencer and Laura Webber

References

• The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition, 1996