Oliver Nelson

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

Oliver Edward Nelson (June 4, 1932 – October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader.[1] He is perhaps best remembered for his groundbreaking 1961 Impulse! album The Blues and the Abstract Truth, widely regarded as one of the most significant recordings of the modern jazz era. The centerpiece of the album is the definitive version of Nelson's composition, "Stolen Moments". Other important recordings from the early 1960s are More Blues and the Abstract Truth and Sound Pieces, both also on Impulse!.[2]

Biography

Early life and career

Oliver Nelson was born into a musical family. His brother was 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. Beginning in 1947 he played in "territory" bands in and around Saint Louis before joining the Louis Jordan band where he stayed from 1950 to 1951, playing alto saxophone and arranging.[3][4]

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 realized everything didn't have to sound like Beethoven or Brahms ... . It was then that I decided to become a composer'".[5]

Nelson returned to Missouri to study music composition and theory at Washington and Lincoln Universities, graduating with a master's degree in 1958. Nelson also studied with composers Elliott Carter, Robert Wykes and George Tremblay.[3][6]

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 St. Louis native Audrey McEwen, a union which lasted until his death and produced a son, Nyles.

After completing his degree Nelson moved to New York City, 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 for Prestige Records as the leader of various small groups. From 1960 to 1961 he briefly played with Count Basie and Duke Ellington and then joined the Quincy Jones big band playing tenor saxophone, both in the U.S. and on tour in Europe.[3]

Breakthrough and afterwards

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, which made his name as a composer and arranger, and he went on to record a number notable of big-band albums including Afro-American Sketches and Full Nelson.[3]

He worked as an arranger on large ensemble albums 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, focusing primarily on soprano saxophone.

In 1967 Nelson moved to Los Angeles to be near the television and movie industry and began composing background music for television and films. Television projects included Ironside, Night Gallery, Columbo, The Six Million Dollar Man and Longstreet. Films scored by Nelson include Death of a Gunfighter (1969), Skullduggery (1970) and Zig Zag (1970).[4] He also arranged Sonny Rollins' music for Alfie (1966) and Gato Barbieri's music for Last Tango in Paris (1972). During this time he also arranged and produced albums for pop stars such as Nancy Wilson, James Brown, the Temptations, and Diana Ross.

Along with his big-band appearances (in Berlin, Montreux, New York, and Los Angeles), he toured West Africa with a small group. 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. His book of jazz practice exercises, Patterns for Improvisation, was published in 1966 and remains highly regarded to this day.

Nelson died of a heart attack on October 28, 1975 at the age of 43.[4]

Discography

As leader/co-leader

Year of recording Album Notes Label
1959 Meet Oliver Nelson Quintet with Kenny Dorham and Ray Bryant Prestige
1960 Taking Care of Business Quintet with Johnny "Hammond" Smith and Lem Winchester Prestige
1960 Screamin' the Blues Sextet with Eric Dolphy and Richard Williams Prestige
1960 Nocturne Quintet with Lem Winchester Moodsville
1960 Soul Battle Sextet with King Curtis and Jimmy Forrest Prestige
1961 The Blues and the Abstract Truth Septet with Bill Evans, Roy Haynes, Eric Dolphy, Paul Chambers and Freddie Hubbard Impulse!
1961 Straight Ahead Quintet with Eric Dolphy Prestige
1961 Main Stem Sextet with Joe Newman Prestige
1961 Afro/American Sketches Oliver Nelson Orchestra Prestige
1962 Impressions of Phaedra Oliver Nelson Orchestra United Artists
1962-3 Full Nelson Oliver Nelson Orchestra Verve
1964 Fantabulous Oliver Nelson Orchestra Argo
1964 More Blues and the Abstract Truth Sextet/Septet/Octet arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson Impulse!
1965 Rita Reys Meets Oliver Nelson Rita Reys with Orchestra arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson Philips
1966 Oliver Nelson Plays Michelle Oliver Nelson Orchestra Impulse!
1966 Sound Pieces Oliver Nelson Orchestra/Quartet Impulse!
1966 Happenings Hank Jones and the Oliver Nelson Orchestra featuring Clark Terry Impulse!
1966 Encyclopedia of Jazz Encyclopedia of Jazz All Stars [split album] Verve
1966 The Sound of Feeling Encyclopedia of Jazz All Stars [split album] Verve
1967 The Spirit of '67 Pee Wee Russell and the Oliver Nelson Orchestra Impulse!
1967 The Kennedy Dream Oliver Nelson Orchestra Impulse!
1967 Live from Los Angeles Oliver Nelson's Big Band Impulse!
1967 Jazzhattan Suite Jazz Interactions Orchestra Verve
1968 Soulful Brass Oliver Nelson with Steve Allen Impulse!
1969 3-2-1-0 Nobuo Hara and His Sharps & Flats composed and arranged by Oliver Nelson Columbia (Japan)
1969 Black, Brown and Beautiful Oliver Nelson Orchestra Flying Dutchman
1970 Zig Zag Original Motion Picture Score MGM
1970 In Tokyo Nobuo Hara and His Sharps & Flats and Oliver Nelson Columbia (Japan)
1970 Berlin Dialogue for Orchestra Oliver Nelson and the "Berlin Dreamband" Flying Dutchman
1971 Swiss Suite Oliver Nelson Orchestra featuring Gato Barbieri and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson Flying Dutchman
1974 Oliver Edward Nelson in London with Oily Rags Oliver Nelson with Oily Rags Flying Dutchman
1975 Skull Session Oliver Nelson Flying Dutchman
1975 Stolen Moments Oliver Nelson East Wind

Compilations

Film and Television Scores

As arranger/conductor

With Faye Adams

With Cannonball Adderley

With Steve Allen

With Gene Ammons

With Air Pocket

With Louis Armstrong

With Gato Barbieri

With Count Basie

With Elek Bacsik

With James Brown

With Mel Brown

With Ray Brown and Milt Jackson

With Ruth Brown

With Henry Cain

With Betty Carter

With Ray Charles

With Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis

With Lou Donaldson

With Jean DuShon

With Lorraine Ellison

With Art Farmer

With Maynard Ferguson

With Jimmy Forrest

With Don Goldie

With Leo Gooden

With Jackie & Roy

With Jimmy Grissom

With Johnny Hartman

With Johnny Hodges

With Richard "Groove" Holmes

With Paul Horn

With Paul Humphrey, Shelly Manne, Willie Bobo & Louis Bellson

With Yujiro Ishihara

With Etta Jones

With Kimiko Kasai

With Ramsey Lewis

With Herbie Mann

With Lloyd G. Mayers

With Carmen McRae

With Thelonious Monk

With Wes Montgomery

With Lee Morgan

With Esther Phillips

With Della Reese

With Irene Reid

With Buddy Rich

With Sonny Rollins

With Diana Ross

With Jimmy Rushing

With Shirley Scott

With Doc Severinsen

With Bud Shank

With Jimmy Smith

With Ringo Starr

With Carl Stokes

With Billy Taylor

With Jack Teagarden

With The Temptations

With Clark Terry

With Bob Thiele

With Leon Thomas

With The Three Sounds

With Cal Tjader

With Stanley Turrentine

With Frank Wess

With Joe Williams

With Nancy Wilson

With Lem Winchester

With Kai Winding

As sideman

With Cannonball Adderley

With Manny Albam

With Elek Bacsik

With Louis Bellson

With Clea Bradford

With Chris Connor

With Duke Ellington

With Red Garland

With J. J. Johnson

With Etta Jones

With Quincy Jones

With Louis Jordan

With Eddie Kirkland

With Mundell Lowe

With Gary McFarland

With Joe Newman

With Shirley Scott

With Johnny "Hammond" Smith

With Leon Thomas

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic
  2. ↑ Impulse! Records catalog at http://www.jazzdisco.org/impulse-records/
  3. 1 2 3 4 Joe Goldberg, "Focus on Oliver Nelson" – Down Beat magazine, February 15, 1962 Vol. 29, No. 4. page 17.
  4. 1 2 3 Phil Woods, Reflections in E-flat – Saxophone Journal, September/October 1995 page 62.
  5. ↑ Garland, Phyl (November 1968). "The Many 'Bags' of Oliver Nelson". Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company: 118. ISSN 0012-9011. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  6. ↑ Garland, Phyl (November 1968). "The Many 'Bags' of Oliver Nelson". Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company: 110. ISSN 0012-9011. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
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