Performance · Other credits

Oliver Nelson

real name Oliver Edward Nelson

saxophone, arranger, composer

United States · 1932-06-04 – 1975-10-27

Oliver Nelson is credited on 3,164 releases across 608 albums tracked on Gatefold, active 1955–2025 — the collector-built map of who actually made the music.

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3,164

Credits

608

Albums

Decades active

261

In collections

Biography

source

American jazz composer, arranger, saxophonist, clarinetist and flutist. St. Louisan Oliver Nelson came from a musical family and worked his first jobs while he was still in high school with the Jeter- Pillars Orchestra, George Hudson, and Eddie Randle. He studied composition and theory at Washington University (1954-7) and at Lincoln University (1957-8). Nelson went to New York, where he made several landmark albums, among them the great "Blues and the Abstract Truth" and "Afro-American Sketches" in 1961. Nelson had a hit record with "Walk on the Wild Side" and moved to Hollywood where he soon made a name for himself in TV and movie scoring with such shows as Ironside and 6 Million Dollar Man. He returned to St. Louis throughout the 1960's to conduct jazz clinics at Washington University. Nelson died in 1975.
Born June 4, 1932 in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States.
Died October 28, 1975 in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Bio from Discogs