"Rise" is an instrumental written by Andy Armer and Randy 'Badazz' Alpert, and first recorded by trumpeterHerb 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. BillboardHot 100 in October of that year and remained in the top position for two weeks. Herb Alpert thus became the first artist to reach the top of the Hot 100 with a vocal performance as well as an instrumental performance. "Rise" was also successful on other charts, peaking at number four on the R&B chart, number seventeen on the disco chart and spending one week atop the adult contemporary chart. 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. The song 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. In October 2016 the "Rise Remix EP" was released on the Herb Alpert Presents label. It has 7 selections with 6 remixes of varying lengths as well as the original track. In early 2020, London-based French DJ/Producer Nicolas Laugier aka The Reflex added "Rise" to his growing list of remixes using the original master tapes. His extended 12 minute version uncovers parts of the track never heard before. A work in progress version released to YouTube in October 2019 had already won popular and critical acclaim.
Covers and samples
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. "Run" by Bell Biv DeVoe samples the same portion sampled in "Hypnotize". In 1999, Brazilian saxophonist Léo Gandelman included a remake of "Rise" in 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. In 2014, electronic music duoGlass Candy released a cover version of the song.
Shortly after the song was released in 1979 it got an unexpected boost when it was used in a critical scene in the American soap opera General Hospital - the rape of Laura Webber Baldwin by Luke Spencer. The song was repeated several times a week for a short period afterward, until the storyline changed to make Luke and Laura a romantic couple. In the 1981 Hindi movieYaarana starring Amitabh Bachchan and Neetu Singh, Komal teaches Kishan some dance moves to this tune. It was used in the 1984 pornographic filmNasty Nurses, starring Vanessa Del Rio. It was also used in the 1980 episode "Hotel Oceanview" on WKRP In Cincinnati. In 2017, the song made an appearance in the seventh episode of the first season of Mindhunter. In 2019 the song made an appearance in an episode of . In 2020 the song made an appearance in a French film from Gaumont and Netflix called "La vie scolaire", 2019.
