Riddle, Nelson

Riddle, Nelson

(1921–87) musician; born in Oradell, N.J. He studied piano and trombone, but from the outset of his career he worked primarily as an arranger, beginning in the late 1930s with Jerry Wald, Tommy Dorsey, and Alvino Rey. After playing with a U.S. Army band during World War II, he joined Bob Crosby and went with him to Los Angeles, where he became a staff arranger for National Broadcasting Company-TV in 1948. Between 1950 and his death, he worked as a free-lance arranger and conductor on hundreds of popular recordings, including classics by Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald.