Hoe Down - Music

1 Oliver Nelson 1932-1975 Was A U.S. Jazz Saxophonist Composer And Bandleader. Nelson Was Born On 4th June 1932 In St Louis Missouri. His Family Was Musical 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. From 1947 He Played In Territory Bands Around St Louis Before Joining The Louis Jordan Big Band From 1950 To 1951 Playing Alto Sax And Arranging. After Military Service In The Marines He Returned To Missouri To Study Music Composition And Theory At Washington And Lincoln Universities Graduating In 1958. After Graduation Nelson Moved To New York Playing With Erskine Hawkins And Wild Bill Davis And Working As The House Arranger For The Apollo Theatre In Harlem. He Also Played On The West Coast Briefly With The Louie Bellson Band In 1959 And In The Same Year Began Recording As Leader With Small Groups. From 1960 To 1961 He Played Tenor Sax With Quincy Jones Both In The U.S. And On Tour In Europe. After Six Albums As Leader Between 1959 And 1961 For The Prestige Label 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 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 The Bionic Woman 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 28th October 1975 Aged 43. 2 Electronic Music Producer From Stockholm Sweden. read less