Born in Springfield, Tennessee, he moved to Chicago at the age of 6. For most of his life he played piano at rent parties in the city, although he also lived in East St. Louis for a while in the early 1920s.
In 1929 he made his only series of recordings for Vocalion Records. These included "Gettin' Dirty Just Shakin' That Thing", renowned for its raunchy "signifying" lyrics, and "Head Rag Hop", featuring talking by Tampa Red and Frankie Jaxon.
His music is multi-dimensional, involving great amounts of keyboard technique, an interesting harmonic imagination, and an obvious sense of humor. He often takes the works of his competitors on the piano, such as Pinetop Perkins, and plays them at greatly enhanced speed, an effect as overwhelming as it is comical. An interview conducted the 1960s by the Jazz Institute of Chicago indicated that Nelson had retired from the music industry.
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Last updated on Wednesday July 09, 2008 at 17:23:49 PDT (GMT -0700)
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