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Oliver Nelson was a distinctive soloist on alto, tenor, and even soprano, but his writing eventually overshadowed his playing skills. He became a professional early on in 1947, playing with the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra and with St. Louis big bands headed by George Hudson and Nat Towles. In 1951, he arranged and played second alto for <a href="spotify:artist:2nRbxpnBMMbtMBWH5QdqH2">Louis Jordan</a>'s big band, and followed with a period in the Navy and four years at a university. After moving to New York, Nelson worked briefly with <a href="spotify:artist:56FeQ03tAPYJ2gwmGhrpbF">Erskine Hawkins</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1bIWJBRYp9l2njxHvVpPeI">Wild Bill Davis</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:1el0ImlpL5kq6eAHoodvOU">Louie Bellson</a> (the latter on the West Coast). In addition to playing with Quincy Jones' orchestra (1960-1961), between 1959-1961 Nelson recorded six small-group albums and a big band date; those gave him a lot of recognition and respect in the jazz world. Blues and the Abstract Truth (from 1961) is considered a classic and helped to popularize a song that Nelson had included on a slightly earlier <a href="spotify:artist:0gNn3uUyIEErdQthThI51i">Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis</a> session, "Stolen Moments." He also fearlessly matched wits effectively with the explosive <a href="spotify:artist:6rxxu32JCGDpKKMPHxnSJp">Eric Dolphy</a> on a pair of quintet sessions. But good as his playing was, Nelson was in greater demand as an arranger, writing for big band dates of <a href="spotify:artist:5GXruybcLmXPjR9rKKFyS6">Jimmy Smith</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:03YhcM6fxypfwckPCQV8pQ">Wes Montgomery</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2jiQ4lRvpc4ZTtUFMB3dGF">Billy Taylor</a>, among others. By 1967, when he moved to Los Angeles, Nelson was working hard in the studios, writing for television and movies. He occasionally appeared with a big band, wrote a few ambitious works, and recorded jazz on an infrequent basis, but Oliver Nelson was largely lost to jazz a few years before his unexpected death at age 43 from a heart attack. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi
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