Born and raised in Southern California, pianist/composer/bandleader Josh Nelson has performed and recorded with many of the world’s most respected musicians including Kurt Elling, Natalie Cole, Benny Golson and John Clayton.

Nelson is also widely viewed as one of the most sought-after bandleaders on the west coast with seven critically acclaimed records under his own name.

LA Stories: Live at Sam First honors the lesser told stories of Los Angeles history and documents a wide range of his music written specifically for, and performed alongside, long-time collaborators including modern saxophone icon Walter Smith III, guitarist Larry Koonse, bassist Luca Alemanno, drummer Dan Schnelle and special guest vocalist Gaby Moreno.

Side A:
1. Forward Momentum
2. Tiburcio
3. Travel Town

Putting the vinyl on the record player, and recorded live at Sam First on February 18th and 19th, 2022, the album opens with the sentimentally rousing, at times fervently sculpted Forward Momentum and the instinctive Tiburcio (itself about the life of the 19th century bandit, Tiburcio Vasquez) and then we get the dutifully impassioned Travel Town.

Side B:
4. Red Car Reminiscing
5. Feed The Birds
6. Lonely Are The Brave

Flipping the luxuriant vinyl LP over and this very special tribute to Los Angeles, a city that has played an important role in his development as a person and artist, continues onward with the flexibly cultured Red Car Reminiscing (which recounts the bygone era of the streetcar in L.A.), which is in turn backed seamlessly by the beautiful Feed The Birds (from the 1964 Disney film, Mary Poppins), coming to a close on the splendidly themeatic Lonely Are The Brave (a tribute to the legendary actors Kirk Douglas and Sidney Poitier).

Musicians: Josh Nelson (piano), Walter Smith III (tenor saxophone),Gaby Moreno (vocals), Larry Koonse (guitars), Luca Alemanno (bass), and Dan Schnelle (drums).

Sam First Records is the in-house label for the Westside Los Angeles jazz club, Sam First. A product of the club owner Paul Solomon and musician/artistic director David Robaire, the label is keeping the spirit of jazz moving forward in the 21st century.

Utilizing state-of-the-art equipment (24 channels of Grace and AEA preamps running through a Lynx Aurora A/D converter), there is a strong effort to bring pristine recording aesthetics to a live club setting. Their setup also includes AEA ribbon mics with DPA, Mojave and Soyuz condenser mics.

The first release in this “live” series was pianist Justin Kauflin, a musical pioneer who is celebrated by jazz royalty including Quincy Jones.

Josh Nelson’s LA Stories: Live at Sam First - Teaser

www.joshnelsonmusic.com