Ted Nash Biography
Multiple Grammy Award-Winning Artist Ted Nash enjoys an extraordinary career as a performer, conductor, composer, arranger and educator. Nash has an uncanny ability to mix freedom with substance, blues with intellect, and risk-taking with clarity. Born in Los Angeles, Nash’s interest in music started at an early age, exposed to music and encouraged by his father, trombonist Dick Nash, and uncle, reedman Ted Nash, both well-known studio and jazz musicians.
One of Nash's most important associations is with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Portrait in Seven Shades, commissioned and recorded by the Orchestra was credited by Ted Panken in Downbeat Magazine as marking a new direction for the Orchestra. For this work Nash received his first Grammy nomination as best arranger. Nash’s work often addresses and embraces themes of cultural and social importance.
He grew up in a household of open-mindedness and social awareness - Nash’s parents, in addition to being wonderful musicians, were civil rights activists whose work helped improve the lives of so many people. Nash’s Grammy winning recording, Presidential Suite, reflects Nash’s own interest in human rights and freedom. Receiving two Grammy Awards in 2017, Presidential Suite is Nash’s most significant work.
Inspired by great political speeches of the 20th century dealing with the theme of freedom, it is rich with social and political awareness. In 2017 Nash received the Composer of the Year award by the Jazz Journalists Association.
