In 1962 a trumpet player in Los Angeles wanted to record a song
he wrote. He didn’t have much money so he convinced some of the top studio cats
to record the song for $15 each. The trumpet player’s name was Herb Alpert and
the song was “The Lonely Bull.” The trumpet solo became a top 10 hit in the
fall of 1962 and made Alpert an instant millionaire.
He then went to the musician’s union and paid a fine for
recording without a union contract and then paid the musicians their fair share
earning him high respect among the musicians and technicians involved. They
then recorded the rest of the album and many more over the next several years
as “Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.” In 1964, Alpert formed another band to
tour under that name.
The success of the TJB project allowed him to form A&M
Records with Jerry Moss. A&M went on to become the largest independent
record label in the United States, signing dozens of top stars with dozens of
hit records before they sold the company in 1989. Herb Alpert and his wife of
44 years, Lani Hall, are now major supporters of the arts and environmental issues
through the Herb Alpert Foundation.
I like this story because it reminds me that having high integrity
and doing the right thing always wins in the end. Always having the highest
integrity and doing the right thing by our customers and employees was the goal
when we formed Mathis Photo, Inc. in 1973, Homer’s Coffee House in 2001, and
Mathis Photography in 2008.
There has always been a wide range of people from scam
artists to people with very high integrity in all kinds and sizes of
businesses. Always try to do business with the best people. It is not hard to
tell which is which if you pay attention.
