Dick Nash, a fine swing trombonist, was the brother of tenor saxophonist Ted Nash and the father of another talented saxophonist named Ted Nash. He started playing a brass instrument at the age of 10. His parents died and, since he was very young, he went to a boarding school where he came in contact with brass playing. His first instrument was an army bugle and he was told to play the trumpet. Even then he was attracted to the trombone and practiced it secretly. The bandmaster heard him play trombone and said "the trumpet is too small for you, you must play the baritone." During his high school days he switched to the trombone and took lessons from John Coffey of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Dick took classical trombone lessons and played all the repertoire, but his desire was to play dance music. Starting in 1947, Dick worked with the big bands of Sam Donahue, Billy May, Glen Gray and Tex Beneke. He served in the military from 1950-52 (playing in an Army band part of the time) and after his discharge was with Billy May's popular orchestra. Unfortunately, Dick matured after the end of the big band era and chose the life of a well-respected studio musician over that of a creative jazz player.
In 1953, he married Barbara and he asked her if she would like to go to Los Angeles for their honeymoon. She said yes! so they packed their bags and left to build a new future. For nearly a year they struggled but a rescue came from Tommy Pederson, who arranged a job for him with one of the local bands. This was his lucky break and his great Los Angeles career began.In later years Dick was often called on to recreate swing era solos (particularly those of Tommy Dorsey) but never led his own record session... width="375" height="300" ..
