“Nash has that kind of instantly identifiable talent that makes the distracted pay attention.” –
Composer, arranger and saxophonist Ted Nash was born in Los Angeles into a family of Hollywood studio musicians. His father Dick Nash who played with Henry Mancini, and uncle Ted Nash are both well-known musicians. Ted came to New York at 18 and released his first album as a leader, Conception. He soon became a member of the Gerry Mulligan Big Band, the National Jazz Ensemble, and the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, the latter, an association that would last more than 10 years.
In New York he began arranging. In 1994, Nash was commissioned by the Davos Musik Festival (Switzerland) to compose for a string quartet in a jazz setting. This was the inspiration for his CD Rhyme and Reason, voted one of the top five CDs of 1999 by Jazz Times Magazine.
Currently, Mr. Nash is a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for whom he recently wrote and premiered Portrait in Seven Shades. In addition to his work with own quartet, he is a member of the Jazz Composers Collective, a musician-run, non-profit organization dedicated to presenting works of composers pushing the boundaries of self-expression.
Ted’s CDs have received kudos from the New York Times, Village Voice, Boston Globe, New York Newsday, The New Yorker, Downbeat, and Jazz Times Magazine among others. He has been cited as “rising star” on saxophone for the past four years in the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, and received SESAC National Performance Activity Award for his CD Still Evolved. His most recent release, “The Mancini Project” appears on the Palmetto Label. Nash’s other collaborations include The Augusta Ballet, Zenon Dance Company, and the Orquestra Jazz Sinfonica in Sao Paulo, for whom he has written original works as well as appeared as a featured soloist.
This is Ted Nash’s first appearance at the Litchfield Jazz Festival. His Quartet features Ted Nash on saxophone, Matt Wilson on drums, Frank Kimbrough on piano and Rufus Reid on bass.
