When most people would be long retired, the music mogul with a trumpet and his own record company under his belt, is still touring and still making albums. 

In this article for the Calgary Herald - one of the stops on his latest sojourn - he recalls why he started the record label "A&M," how easy it was to sign the Carpenters and the one group he never wanted anywhere near his label, who lasted about a week. 

“There is something about her voice and the whole package that touched me,” he says. “I met with them and I signed them. Done. Period. I didn’t have to ask anybody. I walked into Jerry’s office and said ‘I’m signing these two kids called the Carpenters.’ He said ‘Great!’ It was that easy. We didn’t have to clear things through a bunch of people.” 

Still, by the time the label made one of its most infamous deals – signing the Sex Pistols in 1977 – there were other cooks in the kitchen. The band was dropped a week later."

“I wanted them off,” Alpert says. “I said ‘I can’t believe they signed these guys.’ "

Six decades in, Herb Alpert says 'there is no end in sight' for his evolution as a musician