Nelson Boyd (born February 6, 1928) is an American
bebopBebop or bop is a style of jazz characterized by fast tempo, instrumental virtuosity and improvisation based on the combination of harmonic structure and melody. It was developed in the early and mid-1940s...
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
bassist.
Born in
Camden, New JerseyThe City of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey, in the United States. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
, Boyd played in local orchestras in Philadelphia around 1945, and moved in 1947 to
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. There he played with
Coleman HawkinsColeman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was the first important jazz musician to use the instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
,
Tadd DameronTadley Ewing Peake "Tadd" Dameron was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. Dexter Gordon called Dameron the "romanticist" of the bop movement while reviewer Scott Yanow writes that Dameron was the "definitive arranger/composer of the bop era".-Biography:Born in Cleveland, Ohio,...
, and
Dexter GordonDexter Gordon was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and actor. He is considered one of the first bebop tenor players...
, and subsequently with
Sarah VaughanSarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century". She had a contralto vocal range....
,
Dizzy GillespieJohn Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer.Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, and
Charlie BarnetCharles Daly Barnet was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", and "Southland Shuffle".-Early life:...
in 1948. He recorded with
Fats NavarroTheodore "Fats" Navarro was an American jazz trumpet player. He was a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s...
and
Charlie ParkerCharles Parker, Jr. was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.Parker, with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, is often considered one of the most influential of jazz musicians...
in 1947, and with Jay Jay Johnson and
Miles DavisMiles Davis III was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music including cool jazz, hard bop, free jazz...
(on the
Birth of the CoolBirth of the Cool is an album which compiles twelve songs recorded by the Miles Davis nonet for Capitol Records in 1949 and 1950. Featuring unusual instrumentation and several notable musicians, the music consisted of innovative arrangements strongly inspired by classical music, and marked a major...
sessions) in 1949. Davis's tune "Half Nelson" was named after him on account of his stature.
After 1949 Boyd played often with Gillespie, touring the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
with him in 1956.
Nelson Boyd (born February 6, 1928) is an American
bebopBebop or bop is a style of jazz characterized by fast tempo, instrumental virtuosity and improvisation based on the combination of harmonic structure and melody. It was developed in the early and mid-1940s...
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
bassist.
Born in
Camden, New JerseyThe City of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey, in the United States. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
, Boyd played in local orchestras in Philadelphia around 1945, and moved in 1947 to
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. There he played with
Coleman HawkinsColeman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was the first important jazz musician to use the instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
,
Tadd DameronTadley Ewing Peake "Tadd" Dameron was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. Dexter Gordon called Dameron the "romanticist" of the bop movement while reviewer Scott Yanow writes that Dameron was the "definitive arranger/composer of the bop era".-Biography:Born in Cleveland, Ohio,...
, and
Dexter GordonDexter Gordon was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and actor. He is considered one of the first bebop tenor players...
, and subsequently with
Sarah VaughanSarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century". She had a contralto vocal range....
,
Dizzy GillespieJohn Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer.Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, and
Charlie BarnetCharles Daly Barnet was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", and "Southland Shuffle".-Early life:...
in 1948. He recorded with
Fats NavarroTheodore "Fats" Navarro was an American jazz trumpet player. He was a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s...
and
Charlie ParkerCharles Parker, Jr. was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.Parker, with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, is often considered one of the most influential of jazz musicians...
in 1947, and with Jay Jay Johnson and
Miles DavisMiles Davis III was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music including cool jazz, hard bop, free jazz...
(on the
Birth of the CoolBirth of the Cool is an album which compiles twelve songs recorded by the Miles Davis nonet for Capitol Records in 1949 and 1950. Featuring unusual instrumentation and several notable musicians, the music consisted of innovative arrangements strongly inspired by classical music, and marked a major...
sessions) in 1949. Davis's tune "Half Nelson" was named after him on account of his stature.
After 1949 Boyd played often with Gillespie, touring the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
with him in 1956. He recorded with
Melba ListonMelba Doretta Liston was an American jazz musician . Her collaborations with pianist/composer Randy Weston, beginning in the early 1960s, are widely acknowledged as jazz classics.- Life and career :Melba was born in Kansas City, Missouri...
in 1958 with trombone ultimates on "Melba Liston and Her 'Bones". He also did sessions with
Max RoachMaxwell Lemuel Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history...
and
Thelonious MonkThelonious Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer who, according to The Penguin Guide to Jazz, was "one of the giants of American music"...
. His last recordings were in 1964.