In The Loop, Ted Nash's newest project

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Ted Nash will release In the Loop nationwide on August 22, 2006. In the Loop is Ted's third album on Palmetto Records and his second with Still Evolved. James Hale spoke of this band: "Small group interplay this good should always bring a smile to your face." Marcus Printup, trumpet; Ben Allison, bass; Frank Kimbrough, piano; and Matt Wilson, drums all make return appearances. Their first CD, Still Evolved, was selected as Top 10 of the Year by the New Yorker and made many other national best-of lists. Ted accepted a SESAC National Performance Activity Award for the success of the CD on the radio - it reached the #1 position on both the CMJ and JazzWeek charts. Tad Hendrickson called Still Evolved "A good one for those thirsty for new bebop that simmers."

In the Loop features nine original tunes inspired by his travels with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, commissions by the Zenon Dance Company in Minneapolis and Caf Dupa, a restaurant where you can get a good caffeine fix and better dessert. Like Still Evolved, In the Loop promises to be "filled with plenty of little surprises." (John Frederick Moore, Jazziz)

DownBeat Magazine recognized Ted as a Rising Star in the alto saxophone category in 2004, 2005, and 2006 as well as a Rising Star in the tenor saxophone category in 2003, 2004, and 2005. Still Evolved made the Best CD list in 2003 and the Best Jazz Album list in 2004.

Born in Los Angeles, Ted 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), young Nash started playing the piano at age seven. At age twelve he began playing the clarinet and a year later picked up the alto sax. While in high school, he studied jazz improvisation with the innovative teacher and vibraphonist Charlie Shoemake.

Ted's first gig came at age sixteen, playing a week in Hawaii with legendary vibraphonist and bandleader, Lionel Hampton. That same year he won an audition to play lead alto with the Quincy Jones band. By age seventeen Nash had toured Europe, appeared on three records, and was performing regularly with Don Ellis, Louie Bellson, and Toshiko Akiyoshi, as well as with his own quintet.

Ted's first composition, "Tristemente, " was recorded on Louie Bellson's record, Raincheck, on which Nash played with the late trumpeter Blue Mitchell. At age eighteen, Nash moved to New York City recorded his first album as a leader, Conception. Ted also became a regular member of the Gerry Mulligan Big Band, the National Jazz Ensemble, and the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra - of which he would be a member for more than ten years.

In 1994, Nash was commissioned by the Davos Musik Festival in Switzerland to compose works featuring a string quartet in a jazz setting. This project led to the formation of his group, Double Quartet, and the recording of his CD Rhyme and Reason, voted one of the best releases of 1999 by Jazz Times Magazine.

Ted's most recent release (March 2005), La Espada de la Noche on Palmetto Records, reached the #1 position on the CMJ radio chart. The Village Voice said, "...ripping, dramatic, and only slightly ironic... describes everything else on saxophonist Ted Nash's new tango album." Odeon's previous release, Sidewalk Meeting, landed on several "top ten" lists for 2001, including The New York Times, Village Voice, Boston Globe, and the New York Newsday, as well as the 2002 Downbeat Critics Poll for best jazz CD.

Cited as a "Rising Star" on tenor saxophone in 2003 and tenor and alto saxophone in the 2004 and 2005 DownBeat Critics Polls, Ted can be heard on several other Palmetto releases: the Herbie Nichols Project - Strange City; with Ben Allison - Medicine Wheel, Third Eye, and Riding the Nuclear Tiger; and with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis - A Love Supreme and Don't be afraid... the music of Charles Mingus.

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