Oliver Nelson

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Oliver Nelson
Born (1932-06-04)June 4, 1932
St. Louis, Missouri
Died October 28, 1975(1975-10-28) (aged 43)
Genres Bebop, hard bop, post-bop, jazz fusion
Occupations Musician, composer, arranger
Instruments Tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet
Labels Verve
Impulse!
Prestige
Argo
Flying Dutchman

Oliver Edward Nelson (June 4, 1932 in St. Louis, Missouri – October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger and composer.[1]

Contents

Biography[edit]

Early life and career[edit]

Oliver Nelson's family was musical: his brother was also a saxophonist who played with Cootie Williams in the 1940s, and his sister sang and played piano. Nelson began learning to play the piano when he was six, and started on the saxophone at eleven. From 1947 he played in "territory" bands around Saint Louis, before joining the Louis Jordan big band from 1950 to 1951, playing alto saxophone and arranging.

In 1952 Nelson underwent military service in the Marines playing woodwinds in the 3rd Division band in Japan and Korea. It was in Japan that Nelson attended a concert by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and heard Maurice Ravel's Mother Goose Suite and Paul Hindemith's Symphony in E Flat. Nelson later recalled that this was the "First time that I had heard really modern music, for back in St. Louis I hadn't even known that negroes were allowed to go to concerts, I realised everything didn't have to sound like Beethoven or Brahms...It was then that I decided to become a composer".[2] Nelson returned to Missouri to study music composition and theory at Washington and Lincoln Universities, graduating in 1958. Nelson also received private tutoring from composers Elliott Carter, Robert Wykes and George Tremblay.[2] While back in his hometown of St. Louis, he met and married Eileen Mitchell; the couple had a son, Oliver Nelson Jr., but soon divorced. After graduation, Nelson married Audrey McEwen, a union which lasted until his death; they had a son, Nyles. Audrey was a native of St. Louis, Missouri.

Nelson moved to New York, playing with Erskine Hawkins and Wild Bill Davis, and working as the house arranger for the Apollo Theater in Harlem. He also played on the West Coast briefly with the Louie Bellson big band in 1959, and in the same year began recording as leader with small groups. From 1960 to 1961 he played tenor saxophone with Quincy Jones, both in the U.S. and on tour in Europe.

Breakthrough and afterwards[edit]

After six albums as leader between 1959 and 1961 for the Prestige label (with such musicians as Kenny Dorham, Johnny Hammond Smith, Eric Dolphy, Roy Haynes, King Curtis and Jimmy Forrest), Nelson's big breakthrough came with The Blues and the Abstract Truth, on Impulse!, featuring the tune "Stolen Moments," now considered a standard. This made his name as a composer and arranger, and he went on to record a number of big-band albums, as well as working as an arranger for Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Johnny Hodges, Wes Montgomery, Buddy Rich, Jimmy Smith, Billy Taylor, Stanley Turrentine, Irene Reid, Gene Ammons and many others. He also led all-star big bands in various live performances between 1966 and 1975. Nelson continued to perform as a soloist during this period, though increasingly on soprano saxophone.

In 1967, Nelson moved to Los Angeles. Apart from his big-band appearances (in Berlin, Montreux, New York, and Los Angeles), he toured West Africa with a small group. He also spent a great deal of time composing music for television (Ironside, Night Gallery, Columbo, The Six Million Dollar Man and Longstreet) and films (Death of a Gunfighter and he arranged Gato Barbieri's music for Last Tango in Paris). He produced and arranged for pop stars such as Nancy Wilson, James Brown, the Temptations, and Diana Ross. Less well-known is the fact that Nelson composed several symphonic works, and was also deeply involved in jazz education, returning to his alma mater, Washington University, in the summer of 1969 to lead a five-week long clinic that also featured such guest performers as Phil Woods, Mel Lewis, Thad Jones, Sir Roland Hanna, and Ron Carter. Nelson died of a heart attack on 28 October 1975, aged 43.

Discography[edit]

Prestige Records
Impulse! Records
Flying Dutchman Records
  • 1968: Soulful Brass No. 2
  • 1969: Black Brown and Beautiful
  • 1970: The Mayor and the People
  • 1970: Berlin Dialogue for Orchestra
  • 1970: Leon Thomas In Berlin with Oliver Nelson
  • 1971: Swiss Suite
  • 1974: In London with Oily Rags
  • 1975: Skull Session
  • 1976: A Dream Deferred
Other labels

As arranger[edit]

With Air Pocket

With Gene Ammons

With Mel Brown

With Ray Brown and Milt Jackson

With Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis

With Art Farmer

With Jimmy Forrest

With Etta Jones

With Ramsey Lewis

With Carmen McRae

With Shirley Scott

With Jimmy Smith

With Wes Montgomery

With Count Basie

With Billy Taylor

With Frank Wess

As sideman[edit]

[icon] This section requires expansion. (March 2011)

With Manny Albam

With Mundell Lowe

With Etta Jones

With Quincy Jones

With Johnny "Hammond" Smith

References[edit]

  1. ^ Allmusic
  2. ^ a b Johnson Publishing Company (November 1968). Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company. pp. 118–. ISSN 00129011. Retrieved 6 November 2012. 

External links[edit]

Authority control
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