Herb Alpert a vocalist at Dot Records under the name of Dore Alpert. "Tell It to the Birds" was recorded as the first release on the Alpert & Moss label Carnival Records. When Alpert and Moss found that there was prior usage of the Carnival name, they renamed the label A&M Records. Alpert set up a small recording studio in his garage and had been overdubbing a tune called "Twinkle Star", written by Sol Lake, who would eventually write many of the Brass's original tunes. During a visit to Tijuana, Mexico, Alpert happened to hear a mariachi band while attending a bullfight.
Learning How to Love You composer Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962, had a reputation as an "artist-friendly" international record company, a factor that led to George Harrison agreeing terms with A&M to serve as distributors for his Dark Horse Records label in May 1974. Artists such as Ravi Shankar, Splinter, Stairsteps and Attitudes had all recorded for Dark Horse before Harrison was able to sign with A&M as a Dark Horse act himself, following the expiration of his contract with EMI-affiliated Apple Records in January 1976. Around that time, Harrison and Alpert were working in neighbouring studios at A&M's recording facility on La