Oliver Nelson: Oliver Nelson: The Argo, Verve and Impulse Big Band Studio Sessions

The work of Oliver Nelson (1932-1975), saxophonist, composer and arranger (including composing orchestral and chamber music in non-jazz idioms), is remembered in this typically classy Mosaic six-CD set of 1962-1967 sessions. In his liner notes Nelson scholar and saxophonist and composer/arranger Kenny Berger observes, "The recordings in this set were made from the mid to late period of the last golden age of the studio recording in New York.

Nelson's experience as a jazz soloist himself made him the perfect arranger for such other soloists as Cannonball Adderley, Johnny Hodges and Louis Armstrong on his classic recording of "What A Wonderful World. He arranged the first big band records for Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery and his own recording career began at a mere nineteen with the Louis Jordan Big Band.

This is a richly varied collection. A frequently performed Nelson jazz composition is "Miss Fine, heard here with a lyrical solo by Joe Newman. Many of the sides feature Phil Woods (alto sax, clarinet) who was a Nelson mainstay. "Paris Blues, the title tune from Duke Ellington's score for a 1960s movie, features Romeo Penque and Stan Webb stating the opening theme in unison on English horns in Nelson's singular way of introducing piquant colors into a jazz setting. There's more of that with Leonard Bernstein's "Cool, which receives an all-star wall-of-brass reading in a 1963 performance that includes Joe Newman (trumpet), Clark Terry (trumpet and flugelhorn), Jimmy Cleveland (trombone) and both Nelson and Woods (alto saxophones) with expert comping from Jim Hall (guitar). Nelson's orchestrating wit is delightfully evident in a 1966 session with Jimmy Smith, Peter and the Wolf, and for undulating, multi-colored rhythms there's a jumping 1966 session with Smith and Wes Montgomery.

An unusual piece, "The Kennedy Dream further demonstrates the broad range of Nelson's composing and orchestrating talents. Written in tribute to the memory of John F. Kennedy, it has elements of big band jazz although part of the piece was written for a string and woodwind-based studio orchestra. All but one of the tracks begins with recorded excerpts from Kennedy's best-known speeches. "A Genuine Peace has a waltz theme which segues into a brassy jazz feel that strongly recalls "Greensleeves, followed by another Phil Woods driving solo on "The Rights of All. "Day in Dallas evolves from an ominous start into ballad mode and then becomes a dirge. Throughout these passages Nelson utilizes harmonic devices uncommon in a jazz setting that create an inner tension, with exemplary work again by Woods and Jerome Richardson and Jerry Dodgion (reeds). In sum it's a tour de force of Nelson's mastery as composer and orchestrator.

Mosaic has again done us a service by celebrating a neglected artist of great musical ability.

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