Nash grew up in Los Angeles. His father is trombonist Dick Nash and his uncle was saxophonist Ted Nash. Both were big band veterans, jazz soloists and session musicians who worked regularly with Henry Mancini and Les Brown. The younger Nash began his career on piano when he was seven, clarinet when he was 12, and alto saxophone at 13. When he was 16, he played for one week with Lionel Hampton and the following year was playing saxophone with Quincy Jones, Louis Bellson, and Don Ellis. When he was 18, he moved to New York City and became a member of the Gerry Mulligan Big Band. During the same year, he released his debut album, Conception (Concord Jazz, 1978).^[3]

In the 1980s, he worked with vibraphonist Charlie Shoemake, who had been one of his teachers. He was a member of the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, for whom he played saxophone and wrote arrangements. In 1990s, he performed and recorded as sideman with Wynton Marsalis, Joe Lovano, and Ben Allison. After Allison's invitation, he joined the Herbie Nichols Project, a band which played the music of pianist Nichols.^[3]

Nash has been a composer, arranger, producer, conductor, and writer of liner notes. As a performer, he is a multireedist who has recorded on soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, and piccolo.^[5]

Portrait in Seven Shades is a seven-movement suite dedicated to seven modern painters: Claude Monet, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall, and Jackson Pollock.^[6] The album was nominated for a Grammy Award.^[7]

Nash's album Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom (Motéma, 2016) consists of Nash's compositions interwoven with historic political speeches by Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Aung San Suu Kyi. The speeches are read by Sam Waterston, Wynton Marsalis, Joe Lieberman, and Glenn Close.^[8] In 2017, Presidential Suite won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.

As leader edit

• Conception (Concord Jazz, 1980)
• Out of This World (Mapleshade 1993)
• European Quartet (Elabeth, 1994)
• Rhyme & Reason (Arabesque, 1999) – rec. 1998
• Sidewalk Meeting (Arabesque, 2001) – rec. 2000
• Still Evolved (Palmetto, 2003)
• La Espada de la Noche (Palmetto, 2005)
• In the Loop (Palmetto, 2006)
• The Mancini Project (Palmetto, 2008)
• The Creep (Plastic Sax, 2012)
• Chakra (Plastic Sax, 2013)
• Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom (Motéma, 2016) – rec. 2014
• Somewhere Else: West Side Story Songs (Plastic Sax, 2019) – rec. 2018
• Transformation with Glenn Close (Tiger Turn, 2021)

As a member edit

The Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra

• The Definitive Thad Jones (Limelight, 1989)
• The Definitive Thad Jones Volume 2 - Live From The Village Vanguard (Limelight, 1990)

The Herbie Nichols Project

• Love Is Proximity (Soul Note, 1996)
• Dr. Cyclops' Dream (Soul Note, 1999)
• Strange City (Palmetto, 2001)

Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra

• Live in Swing City – Swingin' with Duke (Columbia, 1999)
• A Love Supreme (Palmetto, 2005)
• Don't Be Afraid...The Music of Charles Mingus (Palmetto, 2005)
• Portrait in Seven Shades (Jazz at Lincoln Center, 2010)^[9]
• Vitoria Suite (2010)

As sideman edit