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Tenor saxophonist
Big Nick Nicholas was active for more than 50 years without ever receiving consistent recognition or material rewards commensurate with his contribution to early modern jazz. He is usually remembered as the caloric soloist who improvised for 16 bars on
Dizzy Gillespie's 1947 recording of "Manteca"; as the honoree of a warmly whimsical portrait recorded by
John Coltrane with
Duke Ellington in 1962, and as a weathered veteran who enjoyed a brief comeback during the 1980s.
George Walker Nicholas was born in Lansing, MI on August 2, 1922 and studied clarinet, saxophone, and piano during the years 1933-1939. Sturdy and large-boned, he was already being called "Big
Nick" at the age of ten. Young
George practiced blowing his horn out of doors, playing the same song in multiple key signatures, a tendency inherited from earlier jazz masters and solidly in step with where modern jazz was heading. His father, a saxophonist, mentored him while encouraging his son to sit in with various bands in the Detroit area throughout 1939 and 1940. During adolescence he performed in a group with
Thad and
Hank Jones, who hailed from nearby Pontiac. In 1942 he gigged with
Kelly Martin at Club Congo in Detroit.
Nick's primary influence was
Coleman Hawkins, and by the time he moved to New York he had settled permanently upon the tenor sax. A regular participant in after-hours blowing sessions at Minton's Playhouse on West 118th Street, he worked with Earl "Fatha" Hines for three months in 1942 and gigged with
Tiny Bradshaw for half a year in 1943. After serving in the Second World War,
Nick entered his busiest period, studying music theory and harmony at the Boston Conservatory from 1944-1946, appearing at the Savoy in Boston with pianist Sabby Lewis (who was soon to become that city's first African-American radio DJ), sitting in with the
Claude Hopkins orchestra, and recording with vocalist
Sarah Vaughan. He was featured on
Lucky Millinder's Decca recording "The Spider and the Fly." On January 4, 1947
Nick's tenor anchored a group led by drummer
J.C. Heard that backed comedian Dusty Fletcher on his famous recording of "Open the Door Richard"; three days later he recorded with
Fats Navarro and
Miles Davis in a 15-piece big band led by
Illinois Jacquet. During that year,
Nick began collaborating with singing trumpeter
Hot Lips Page, who featured the saxophonist on "Take Your Shoes Off, Baby" and "La Danse"; they would continue to work together until
Page's death in 1954.
Also during 1947,
Nicholas joined the
Dizzy Gillespie orchestra and was featured on "Manteca" and "Ool-ya-koo."
John Coltrane caught
Nicholas with
Gillespie during this period and was greatly inspired by what he heard. In February 1948,
Nick performed live in Paris with
Gillespie's big band during a three-month European tour. In 1950 he recorded with pianist
Una Mae Carlisle, and began leading jam sessions at Harlem's Paradise Club, where he developed a tendency to sing in what has accurately been termed a "joyous, booming" voice.
On September 29, 1951
Big Nick locked horns with
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis on-stage at Birdland with the
Miles Davis Sextet, a trailblazing unit that included
Billy Taylor,
Charles Mingus, and
Art Blakey. A few days later
Blakey,
Nick, and
Lockjaw were in the studio with a sextet led by trombonist
Bennie Green, recording the "Tenor Sax Shuffle" and five other titles for Prestige. In 1953,
Nick worked with
Jonah Jones backing vocalist
Timmie Rogers, and in 1955 he collaborated with trumpeter
Buck Clayton and vocalist
Frankie Laine on the album Jazz Spectacular, taking memorable solos on "Baby Baby All the Time" and "Sposin'." During the mid- and late '50s
Big Nick lived on 139th Street in Queens; he played the Club Harlem in Atlantic City, N.J. and was featured soloist with the Shorty Allen band at Elegante in Brooklyn.
When
Coltrane recorded "Big Nick" with
Duke Ellington in 1962, he used the soprano saxophone to invoke the man's personality rather than employing the tenor to emulate his tonality. While
Trane's friendly tribute alerted large numbers of record-buying jazz fans to
Nick's existence, his career was more or less on hold during much of the decade. In 1964 he participated in a benefit for the ailing
Pee Wee Russell; unfortunately, the same alcoholism that did in the clarinetist in 1969 gradually took its toll on
Big Nick. During the '70s he lived and taught in Charlottesville, VA, where in 1979 he held down a regular booking at a country club lounge. This was followed by a successful engagement in New York, a 1980 European tour with
John Hicks,
Walter Booker, and
Jimmy Cobb, and a brief comeback following the release of his first album as a leader in 1984, forever preserving his wonderfully eccentric scat singing on a disarming version of "Corrine Corrina." Big and Warm was followed in 1985 by Big Nick. Neither of these India Navigation albums has received the attention they deserve.
George Walker Nicholas passed away in Queens, NY on October 19, 1997. ~ arwulf arwulf