Ted Nash (saxophonist, born 1960)

Last updated
Ted Nash
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra - Lyon 2016 Bis.jpg
Sherman Irby, Ted Nash, and Victor Goines, Lyon, France, 2016
Background information
Born (1960-12-28) December 28, 1960 (age 63)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres Jazz
Occupation(s)Musician, composer, arranger, bandleader
Instrument(s)Saxophone, multireedist
Years active1970s–present
Labels Concord Jazz, Mapleshade, Elabeth, Arabesque, Palmetto, Motéma
Website TedNash.com

Ted Nash (born December 28, 1960) is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist and composer. Born into a musical family, his uncle was saxophonist Ted Nash and his father is trombonist Dick Nash, both prominent jazz soloists and first call Hollywood studio musicians. [1] [2] [3] Nash is a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra directed by Wynton Marsalis. He is one of the founders of the Jazz Composers Collective. [4]

Contents

Music career

Nash grew up in Los Angeles. His father is trombonist Dick Nash and his uncle was saxophonist Ted Nash. Both were big band veterans, jazz soloists and session musicians who worked regularly with Henry Mancini and Les Brown. The younger Nash began his career on piano when he was seven, clarinet when he was 12, and alto saxophone at 13. When he was 16, he played for one week with Lionel Hampton and the following year was playing saxophone with Quincy Jones, Louis Bellson, and Don Ellis. When he was 18, he moved to New York City and became a member of the Gerry Mulligan Big Band. During the same year, he released his debut album, Conception (Concord Jazz, 1978). [3]

In the 1980s, he worked with vibraphonist Charlie Shoemake, who had been one of his teachers. He was a member of the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, for whom he played saxophone and wrote arrangements. In 1990s, he performed and recorded as sideman with Wynton Marsalis, Joe Lovano, and Ben Allison. After Allison's invitation, he joined the Herbie Nichols Project, a band which played the music of pianist Nichols. [3]

Nash has been a composer, arranger, producer, conductor, and writer of liner notes. As a performer, he is a multireedist who has recorded on soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, and piccolo. [5]

Compositions

Portrait in Seven Shades is a seven-movement suite dedicated to seven modern painters: Claude Monet, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall, and Jackson Pollock. [6] The album was nominated for a Grammy Award. [7]

Nash's album Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom (Motéma, 2016) consists of Nash's compositions interwoven with historic political speeches by Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Aung San Suu Kyi. The speeches are read by Sam Waterston, Wynton Marsalis, Joe Lieberman, and Glenn Close. [8] In 2017, Presidential Suite won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.

Discography

As leader

As a member

The Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra

The Herbie Nichols Project

Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra

As sideman

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charnett Moffett</span> American jazz bassist (1967–2022)

Charnett Moffett was an American jazz bassist. A consummate and versatile bassist, and composer, he was an apparent child prodigy. Moffett began playing bass in the family band, touring the Far East in 1975 at the age of eight. In the mid-1980s, he played with Wynton Marsalis and Branford Marsalis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Allison</span> American double bassist, composer, and bandleader

Ben Allison is an American double bassist, composer, producer, bandleader, educator. In addition to his work as a performer, he co-founded the non-profit Jazz Composers Collective and served as its Artistic Director for twelve years. Allison is an adjunct professor at New School University and serves on the board of the New York chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, where he serves as President.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Foster (jazz musician)</span> American musical artist

Frank Benjamin Foster III was an American tenor and soprano saxophonist, flautist, arranger, and composer. Foster collaborated frequently with Count Basie and worked as a bandleader from the early 1950s. In 1998, Howard University awarded Frank Foster with the Benny Golson Jazz Master Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Temperley</span> Scottish jazz saxophonist

Joe Temperley was a Scottish jazz saxophonist. He performed with various instruments, but was most associated with the baritone saxophone, soprano saxophone, and bass clarinet.

Frank Kimbrough was an American post-bop jazz pianist. He was born and raised in Roxboro, North Carolina. He did some work at Chapel Hill before moving to Washington, D. C. in 1980 and then New York City in 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Handy</span> American jazz tenor saxophonist

Craig Mitchell Handy is an American tenor saxophonist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Goines</span> American jazz musician

Victor Louis Goines is a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist who has served as president and chief executive officer of Jazz St. Louis since September 2022. From 2000 to 2007, he was director of the jazz program at Juilliard.

Steve Cardenas is a guitarist who began his career in Kansas City, Missouri and has been part of the New York City jazz community since 1995.

Theodore Malcolm Nash was a jazz musician who played saxophone, flute, and clarinet. He was a session musician in Hollywood studios. His brother was trombonist Dick Nash and his nephew is saxophonist Ted Nash, who is a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Branford Marsalis</span> American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader

Branford Marsalis is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque. From 1992 to 1995 he led the Tonight Show Band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motéma Music</span> American record label

Motéma Music is a jazz and world music record label in the United States. It was founded in 2003 in San Francisco Bay Area by label president and recording artist Jana Herzen. The label has received GRAMMY® recognition more than 25 times for albums in jazz, Latin jazz, reggae, and R&B. Motema's roster includes Gregory Porter, Joey Alexander, Deva Mahal, Pedrito Martinez, Randy Weston, Geri Allen, David Murray, Monty Alexander, and Charnett Moffett, Donny McCaslin, Mark Guiliana, and Terri Lyne Carrington and many other respected artists in jazz, world and soul music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myron Walden</span> Musical artist

Myron Walden is a jazz saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is an American big band and jazz orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis. The Orchestra is part of Jazz at Lincoln Center, a performing arts organization in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Wilson (jazz drummer)</span> American jazz drummer (born 1964)

Matthew Edward Wilson is an American jazz drummer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joey Alexander</span> Indonesian jazz pianist (born 2003)

Josiah Alexander Sila, known professionally as Joey Alexander, is an Indonesian jazz pianist. He became the first Indonesian musician to chart on Billboard 200 when his album My Favorite Things debuted at number 174 and then peaked at 59.

<i>The Thompson Fields</i> 2015 studio album by Maria Schneider Orchestra

The Thompson Fields is an album by the Maria Schneider Orchestra that won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 2017. Schneider was the composer, conductor, and co-producer of the autobiographical work. The title comes from the Minnesota farm where she was raised.

<i>Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom</i> 2016 studio album by Ted Nash Big Band

Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom is an album by the Ted Nash Big Band that won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 2017. "Spoken at Midnight" won Best Instrumental Composition.

<i>Sidewalk Meeting</i> 2001 studio album by Ted Nash

Sidewalk Meeting is an album by saxophonist Ted Nash which was recorded in 2000 and released on the Arabesque label the following year.

<i>Rhyme & Reason</i> (Ted Nash album) 1999 studio album by Ted Nash Double Quartet

Rhyme & Reason is an album by saxophonist Ted Nash which was recorded in 1998 and released on the Arabesque label the following year.

Elio Villafranca is a Cuban jazz pianist and composer. He was born in the Cuban province of Pinar del Río, and studied in the faculty of music of the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana. He worked on Things I Wanted to do by Chembo Corniel, which was nominated for Best Latin Jazz Album at the 2010 Grammy Awards; his album Cinque was nominated in 2020. In 2014 he received the first JALC Millennium Swing Award. He teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, at Temple University, and at the Juilliard School of Music, where he specializes in jazz ensemble.

References

  1. Liner notes to The Brothers Nash, Liberty Records LJH 6022
  2. "Ted Nash Biography". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2010-06-12.
  3. 1 2 3 Henderson, Alex. "Ted Nash". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  4. Adler, David. "Jazz Composers Collective". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Ted Nash | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  6. Ackermann, Karl (25 August 2016). "Ted Nash Big Band: Presidential Suite (Eight Variations on Freedom)". All About Jazz. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  7. "Grammy Award-Nominated Composer and Arranger To Premiere Two Compositions at Scranton | Royal News: November 26, 2019". news.scranton.edu.
  8. Auerbach, Brad (21 October 2016). "Digital Tip Jar: Jazz Maestro Ted Nash Opines on Spotify and Presidential Discourse". Forbes. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  9. "Grammy award-winning Jazz saxophonist improvises to famous paintings". KCRW. 19 July 2019.
  10. Johnson, Martin (5 November 2018). "'Quiet Revolution' by Ben Allison Review: Blast From the Past". Wall Street Journal.