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This makes the most sense based on his interview from the RevOla SCOF release. In the interview, Nichols states that he was friends with Tommy LiPuma who, at the time, had just left Liberty for A&M and asked Nichols to come over as well -- which he did; and with that immediate connection he was able to pitch his songs directly to Herb. According to the timeline, Treasure Of San Miguel was probably pitched to Herb in Autumn '66.This demo could have been produced two ways. I'm more inclined to think #1 below, but #2 could be a remote possibility.
- The demo was created with a two-trumpet arrangement to pitch to Herb for the TJB to record. Most likely IMHO.
The RevOla liner was culled from interviews from Roger, Tom LiPuma, Tony Asher, Paul Williams, and Jerry Moss -- so I wager the content is as accurate as their memories were at that time (2004)... Four immediate takeaways: (1) Nobody liked the cover art. Jerry conceded that it wasn't one of A&M's best efforts... The rock festival front and cowboy hats on the rear was confusing and in no way represented the music -- which contributed to disappointing sales. (2) A&M apparently did not promote the LP in the trades. (3) The group would not tour to support the LP, which did not sit well with A&M. (4) Chuck Kaye introduced Paul Williams to Roger and they immediately "hit it off" and started writing together.It's a shame he didn't have a second A&M album. There were enough tracks from the singles that they could have filled almost another side of an LP, and he probably had plenty more in the can he could have recorded.
That would be summer 1966. Although Roger didn't say whether or not that he wrote Treasure specifically for Herb, he surely arranged the demo for his ears. In any event, in the Steve Stanley (RevOla) interview notes Roger said that right after Herb recorded the song was when he went under contract and cut his first session, 23SEP66.While Nichols waited for Li Puma to finish producing the Sandpipers and Claudine Longet, he wrote an instrumental for Alpert that he promptly recorded a week after hearing it.
The demo is exciting to hear from a trumpeter’s perspective, too. The session trumpeter plays it straight-up with no stylistic flair whatsoever. (Relative to the straight-ahead session trumpeter’s reading, we immediately note how instantly recognizable Herb’s singular style is. As Miles said: "you hear three notes you know it’s Herb Alpert".)I love this it does seems Herb almost did his version true to this demo
Agreed! Herb is known for re-tooling songs, but that didn't occur here. On the other hand, his arrangement of Love So Fine was quite different than Nichols' version.This demo sounds sooo close to what Herb recorded that maybe Nichols should have gotten co-arranger credit!