Josh Nelson

Who is Josh Nelson?

Josh Nelson is an American jazz pianist and composer.

Nelson produced his independent debut album First Stories at age 19. His second album Anticipation was released in 2004 with all his compositions. In 2007, Nelson signed with the jazz label Native Language Music and released his third album Let It Go along with the guest Seamus Blake, Sara Gazarek, and Anthony Wilson. His fourth album I Hear a Rhapsody was released in 2009 with Nelson's original music, standard interpretations, and reinventions of rock tunes. In 2011, He released his fifth album Discoveries, influenced by the writings of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Nikola Tesla and others.

Nelson has worked with Jeff Hamilton, Peter Erskine, and Sara Gazarek, for whom he was songs and serves as musical director and he has been touring worldwide with jazz vocalist Natalie Cole over the past two years. One of Gazarek's albums, for which Nelson composed various pieces, and which featured a band led by Nelson, reached number ten on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart.

Nelson has been described by jazz critic Chuck Berg as a "brilliant young player whose virtuosity suggest the urbane yet bluesy tradition of Oscar Peterson and Gene Harris" and by journalist and critic Josef Woodard as possessing "his own clean-burning modern mode of jazz".