On August 26th, jazz pianist, singer, composer, arranger and recording artist Josh Nelson made his Ridgecrest debut at the historic USO Building.
The famous Los Angeles artist has toured internationally with singer Natalie Cole and drummer Peter Erskine. Still, at my father’s request, I found time to come all the way to IWV and perform here.
Josh’s father, former Disney executive and author John Nelson, decided it was time to share his son’s immense talent with a new audience, and the recital was a huge success.
After an introduction by Nelson and his father, the concert ran smoothly through the two-and-a-half-hour show, arriving at a packed venue. Most of his 16 songs that night were Nelson’s own compositions, presented to an audience that didn’t know what to expect from this handsome visitor. The original melody was played on our piano and his own keyboard. Sometimes I would reach for the piano and manually pluck the strings for the perfect effect.
Growing up in a Disney household, Nelson used his experience to create playful “zones” that he often withdrew into, much to the delight of audiences.
His romantic vocals on original songs such as “How You Loved Me On Mars” evoked memories of the late jazz artist Chet Baker. Of particular interest was the “Tesla Coil,” a playful light show that was impressively staged on the huge exposed stage wall. The music and visuals were coordinated by house tech wizard Bob Dezelm and appropriately supported by Jesse Ottinger.
Nelson took audiences on a wonderful visual and musical journey with this production. Later in the show, his and Daddy John’s whimsical word jazz exchanges added a cozy family atmosphere to the evening.
For this cinephile, the climax of the night was the presentation of the post-apocalyptic film depicting the zoetrope, the cylindrical pre-cinematic animation apparatus that fueled the development of cinema. From there, Nelson slips seamlessly into a beautiful rendition of Jerry Goldsmith’s haunting theme from the movie Chinatown, alternating between piano and magic keyboards and an almost eerie, iconic cinematic fit. produced an effect. Few people in the house had dry eyes (myself included) watching this moving film tribute.
After an exhausting musical workout, Nelson got up to a standing ovation and made his way to the lobby. There he chatted happily with an appreciative audience and signed programs and CDs that were immediately sold out.
Josh Nelson, like us at the Upper Mojave Desert Historical Society, was personally pleased with the enthusiastic audience response and promised to return to the historic USO Building for future recitals. We are sure that our music-appreciating community will anxiously await his return.