Oliver Nelson (1932-1975) was such a great musician. He was a brilliant composer, arranger, orchestrator and a gifted improvising soloist on saxophone. I heard him live one time with the 1:00 Lab Band at North Texas State University when I was in the 2:00 Lab Band during the school year 1971-72. The 1:00 played Olivers music as he conducted and soloed with them. And he and the band were great. Heres J. J. Johnson in 1964 playing one of Olivers great compositions, Stolen Moments. Ive always loved this composition and its title. Oliver originally scored it in C minor. But, for J. J. he arranged it D minor. D minor gives the trombonist more middle register room to move through and provides a little more spark on the tonic chords third, fifth, and seventh voices. Jay ends on the 13th on a high B and it sounds so commanding - more fire than if hed ended on an A in the original key. Oliver (hes playing tenor saxophone in the section here) wrote this arrangement just for J. J. And it demonstrates Olivers great sensitivity for understanding the style and concepts of the soloist for whom hes writing. Oliver Nelson. He died far too soon. But, he left us with a lot of great music. https://youtube/watch?v=uD4jGUN9C3w
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 00:50:00 +0000
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