The Jazz Life— Oliver Nelson
The Six Million Dollar Man of Jazz
Throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and into the 1970s, one of the best jazz composers, arrangers, and band-leaders around was Oliver Nelson; he wasn’t a bad alto saxophonist either.
Sadly, Nelson died in 1975 of a heart attack, which is of little surprise when you listen to the tremendously energetic albums he recorded, most especially the iconic More Blues and the Abstract Truth, and the truly spectacular Swiss Suite featuring the Argentinian tenor saxophonist Gato Barbieri, and the much lamented alto saxist, Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson, recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival in June 1971. It’s truly hair-raising stuff!
Oliver Nelson was born in St Louis on June 4th 1932, and came from a very musical family, with his sister a singer and pianist, and his elder brother a sax player with the Cootie Williams band. When Nelson was six he started to study piano and by the age of eleven was also studying saxophone and composition — he was a natural.
By the late 1940s he was playing with many of the so called ‘Territory Bands’ around the St Louis area. These bands were so called because they were made up of local musicians who only played in the clubs, bars, and ballrooms within their own areas, which, if you think of the size of the US makes sense, although some, such as the Count Basie…
