Louis Nelson

Although revered by devotees of the New Orleans revival, Louis Nelson remained an inconsistent trombonist whose warm phrasing could give way to glaring intonation slips in the very next chorus. Admirers insisted he could do nothing wrong, yet critics found scant merit in his work; the reality rests between those extremes. Nelson began on alto horn before making a permanent shift to trombone. During the 1920s he participated actively in the New Orleans jazz community, performing with Kid Rena, the Original Tuxedo Orchestra, and, for fifteen years, Sidney Desvigne’s orchestra. From 1944 onward he maintained close ties with Kid Thomas Valentine, George Lewis, and the musicians who regularly appeared at Preservation Hall in the 1960s. Nelson also traveled and recorded with the Legends of Jazz while issuing leader sessions on G.H.B. beginning in 1964, as well as on 504, 77, LaCroix, Nola, and additional independent labels.