b. Nelson Smock Riddle, 1 June 1921, Oradell, New Jersey, USA, d. 6 October 1985, Los Angeles, California, USA. After studying piano, Riddle took up the trombone when in his early teens, and in the late 30s played in a number of big bands, including those led by Jerry Wald, Charlie Spivak, Tommy Dorsey and Bob Crosby. After a stint in the army, he settled in California and studied arranging with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and conducting with Victor Bay. In the late 40s Riddle joined NBC, but was lured to Capitol Records and registered immediately with a driving arrangement of "Blacksmith Blues" for Ella Mae Morse. He confirmed his outstanding ability when he began to arrange and conduct for recordings by Nat "King" Cole and Frank Sinatra. Among these were some of Cole's most engaging and memorable sides, such as "Unforgettable", "Somewhere Along The Way" and "Ballerina', along with a good many of his bestselling albums. Riddle also worked with Sinatra on his important early Capitol albums, such as Songs For Young Lovers, Swing Easy!, Songs For Swingin" Lovers!, In The Wee Small Hours, and many other later ones. In addition, he served as musical director on most of the singer's popular television specials.

Listen to Nelson Riddle at Finetune.

• (1997)  The Best of Nelson Riddle & His Orchestra

• Route 66 Theme
• Lisbon Antigua
• Charade
• I Want to Hold Your Hand
• My Three Sons

• Martin Denny
• Gil Evans
• Henry Mancini
• Bobby Darin
• Elvis Presley
• Percy Faith
• Burt Bacharach
• Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
• Quincy Jones
• Pat Boone
• Dean Martin
• Tony Bennett
• Fats Domino
• Les Baxter
• Frank Sinatra
• Brian Setzer
• Shirley Bassey
• The Platters
• Ray Charles
• The Ventures

• blazer6811
• instrumentalpavilion
• music29485
• 709
• roberto037

• instrumentalpavilion on 2007-09-30 20:29:20.543:
  Nelson Riddle had an excellent sound. Too bad Finetune doesn't have the "The Joy of Living/Life is a Game of Poker" album.
• blazer6811 on 2007-07-15 17:49:01.670:
  great music,remenbering the old days when i hear his music.