Record of the day: Oliver Nelson, "...Big Band Studio Sessions"

Record of the day: Oliver Nelson, “…Big Band Studio Sessions”

Oliver Nelson
“The Argo, Verve and Impulse Big Band Studio Sessions” (6 Cd Mosaic/233)

During the 1960s Oliver Nelson was one of the most popular arrangers on the American scene; he recorded several albums under his own name both as a saxophonist and as a bandleader, collaborating with exceptional musicians such as Eric Dolphy, Bill Evans and Freddie Hubbard in the historic “The Blues and the Abstract Truth”, but he was also an author sought after by Hollywood and the world of TV (he wrote the soundtracks for TV series such as “Columbus” and “Six Million Dollar Man”).

His activity as an arranger was in such demand that over the years he progressively blocked any concert activity, forcing him to live practically secluded in the recording studios; to this we must add the fact that Nelson absolutely refused to avail himself of the help of collaborators, spending entire nights bent over the table to lay down every single note of his scores. The end result was a monstrous load of commitments, so much so that it permanently undermined his physique that in 1975 he threw in the towel with a fulminant pancreatitis that sent him to the other world.

This substantial box published by the collectors’ label Mosaic contains 17 different sessions performed with soloists of the caliber of Phil Woods, Shirley Scott, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson and Jimmy Smith, plus a very rare Suite dedicated to the memory of President Kennedy, almost all recordings that were not easy to find brought to light with the audiophile perfection typical of this small but fierce record company.

In all the songs we find the unmistakable characteristics of Oliver’s style: the love for chords arranged in narrow parts,
for the reharmonized blues, the slightly Gascon flavor of some themes which is immediately redeemed by the energy that is released from them, the great ability to mix orchestral colors through an always imaginative use of counterpoint and sound mixtures (famous and very imitated his use of mutes for brass).

All this contributes to creating the portrait of a great artist who in life was sometimes looked at with unjust suspicion due to
of his frenetic activity within commercial fields, but which, listened to again today in this vast collection, is confirmed as
one of the essential names of orchestral jazz writing.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.