Herb Alpert was a scuffling musician when he founded Carnival Records over a hand-shake with Jerry Moss, a relatively green record promoter. Turns out the name was taken, so they simply dubbed themselves A&M. Musician-led labels historically had a hard time of it (arguably, Charles Mingus’s Debut was one of the most prolific at that point, which is saying something), but they had an early breakout hit with Alpert’s Mexican-flavored over-dubbed trumpet stylings on “The Lonely Bull,” which got them off and running.
Instead of talking heads, Suffern uses archival interviews and disembodied voices accompanying footage of the era to tell the labels history (employing the techniques seen in Ailey and Billie). Ironically, the record label opened their studio complex on the grounds of the old Charlie Chaplin Studio, the one-time home of the silent star (but he did write the tune “Smile”).
Frustratingly, Suffern never discusses the years Creed Taylor’s CTI Records operated as an imprint at A&M. (There are entire art books dedicated to CTI covers, but the history of their association is admittedly complex.) Several important jazz artists are briefly referenced during the two-parter (including Gerry Mulligan and Dave Brubeck), but the only jazz-related artist who gets any serious discussion is A&M’s first big, non-Alpert signing, Sergio Mendes, who came along just in time for the Bossa Nova explosion.
