Albert Nicholas
American jazz clarinet player (1900–1973)
title: "Albert Nicholas" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1900-births", "1973-deaths", "20th-century-american-musicians", "american-jazz-clarinetists", "delmark-records-artists", "jazz-musicians-from-new-orleans"] description: "American jazz clarinet player (1900–1973)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Nicholas" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American jazz clarinet player (1900–1973) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Albert Nicholas |
| image | Albert Nicholas (Gottlieb 06571).jpg |
| caption | Nicholas in Jimmy Ryan's club, New York City, . Image: William P. Gottlieb |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Basel, Switzerland |
| genre | Jazz |
| occupation | Musician |
| instrument | Clarinet |
| years_active | 1910s–1973 |
| :: |
| name = Albert Nicholas | image = Albert Nicholas (Gottlieb 06571).jpg | caption = Nicholas in Jimmy Ryan's club, New York City, . Image: William P. Gottlieb | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Basel, Switzerland | genre = Jazz | occupation = Musician | instrument = Clarinet | years_active = 1910s–1973
Albert Nicholas (May 27, 1900 – September 3, 1973) was an American jazz clarinet player, who was mostly based in Europe after 1953.
Career
Nicholas's primary instrument was the clarinet, which he studied with Lorenzo Tio in his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Late in the 1910s, he played with Buddy Petit, King Oliver, and Manuel Perez. He spent three years in the Merchant Marines and then joined Oliver in Chicago from 1925 to 1927. After time in East Asia and Egypt, Nicholas returned to New York City in 1928 and played with Luis Russell until 1933, playing there with Red Allen, Charlie Holmes, and J. C. Higginbotham. Later he played with Chick Webb, Louis Armstrong (with Russell) and Jelly Roll Morton.
The Dixieland jazz revival of the late 1940s reinvigorated his career; he played with Art Hodes, Bunk Johnson, and Kid Ory, and had a regular gig with Ralph Sutton in 1948.
In 1953, Nicholas moved to Paris, France; except for recording sessions in the U.S. in 1959–60, he remained in Europe for most of the rest of his life.
Nicholas died in Basel, Switzerland, in September 1973, at the age of 73.
Discography
- Albert Nicholas & Mezz Mezzrow (Jazztone, 1956)
- The Scobey Story Vol. 1 (Good Time Jazz, 1959)
- Albert Nicholas with Art Hodes' All-Star Stompers (Delmark, 1964)
- Albert's Blues (77 Records, 1966)
- Barney Bigard/Albert Nicholas (RCA, 1969)
- A Tribute to Jelly Roll Morton (Storyville, 1972)
- Albert Nicholas and The Traditional Jazz Studio (Supraphon, 1972)
- Albert Nicholas with Alan Elsdon's Band Vol. 1 (Jazzology, 1995)
- Albert Nicholas with Alan Elsdon's Band Vol. 2 (Jazzology, 1996)
- Story 1926–1947 (EPM, 1998)
- New Orleans Clarinet (Sanctuary, 2006)
- Albert Nicholas & Herb Hall (GHB, 2015)
- Albert Nicholas In Europe (Upbeat URCD284)
- As It Is When It Was (2020)
References
;Footnotes
;General references
- Scott Yanow, [ "Albert Nicholas"] at AllMusic
References
- (1992). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Guinness Publishing]].
- Yanow, Scott. (December 22, 2018). "Albert Nicholas in Europe".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::