AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Oliver Nelson

Artist:Oliver Nelson

Song:Stolen Moments

Album:The Blues and the Abstract Truth

Jazz saxophonist Oliver Nelson played in several bands in the late 50s. His goal was to be a composer and arranger. And the 1961 album The Blues and the Abstract Truth and especially the song Stolen Moments was so successful that it led to Nelson moving to Los Angeles to compose music for TV and film. So Nelson's path is very similar to Quincy Jones. The difference is that Nelson died prematurely so he never had the chance to be like Jones. He was born June 4, 1932 in St. Louis. His brother was a saxophonist who played with Cootie Williams and his sister sang and played piano. He took up the sax at age 11. His most notable early stint was playing alto sax and arranging for Louis Jordan in 1950. Nelson served in the US Marine Corps and played in their band. He attended a Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra concert that convinced him to become a composer. So when Nelson got home to St. Louis, he studied music composition and theory at Washington University in St. Louis and Lincoln University and graduated with a master's degree in 1958. He moved to New York City and was the house arranger at The Apollo Theater. He recorded several albums for Prestige Records. He played with Count Basie and Duke Ellington and toured with Quincy Jones. ABC-Paramount Records decided to start a jazz label. They hired Creed Taylor as a producer. He had previously worked for Bethlehem Records. Taylor was scouting for talent in New York and met Nelson. Nelson was already under contract to Prestige. So Taylor hired him to compose The Blues and the Abstract Truth and assemble an all star band. The musicians were Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Eric Dolphy on alto sax and flute, Nelson played tenor sax, George Barrow on baritone sax, Bill Evans on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. The song Stolen Moments became a jazz standard. Jazz singer Mark Murphy wrote lyrics for Stolen Moments when he recorded it in 1978. The album is available as a budget CD. Nelson continued to record his own albums. But he also worked as an arranger on big band albums. The big one was when Nelson worked with Sonny Rollins on the score for the 1966 film Alfie. Nelson moved to Los Angeles in 1967. He worked mostly on TV shows like Ironside, The Name of the Game, It Takes a Thief, Night Gallery and The Six Million Dollar Man. He also worked as an arranger on films like Lady Sings the Blues (1972). He was recording albums for former Impulse! producer Bob Thiele's label Flying Dutchman. It's likely that Nelson would have continued on this route. But he died from a heart attack on Oct. 28, 1975 at age 43. Here's a video for Stolen Moments by Oliver Nelson.