Herb Alpert was quite active pre-Tijuana Brass. In 1959, under the name "Herb B. Lou & the Legal Eagles," he and his partner, Lou Adler, released "The Trial," a novelty record featuring snippets of popular songs in the dialog. The next year, his orchestra backed Dante & The Evergreens on "Time Machine," a song about a time traveler who flies into the past to "make some time 1960 style" with Cleopatra.
Alpert's still quite "active", alas:
http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Herb_Alpert.php