Editing Nelson Riddle (section)

==Early years==
Riddle was born in [[Oradell, New Jersey]],<ref name="LarkinGE"/> the only surviving child of Marie Albertine Riddle (a native of [[Mulhouse]], France, whose father was Spanish) and Nelson Smock Riddle, who was of English-Irish and Dutch descent. His mother had suffered six miscarriages and one stillbirth in her lifetime. It was his mother's second marriage. The family later moved to nearby [[Ridgewood, New Jersey|Ridgewood]].{{sfn|Levinson|2005|p=17}} 

Following his father's interest in music, he began taking [[piano]] lessons at age eight and [[trombone]] lessons at age fourteen. He was encouraged to continue his musical pursuits at [[Ridgewood High School (New Jersey)|Ridgewood High School]].<ref>[http://www.jazzhouse.org/library/?read=ripmaster2 ''September in the Rain: The Life of Nelson Riddle''], JazzHouse.org. Accessed October 17, 2018. "Riddle was born in Oradell, New Jersey. His father played trombone and piano and encouraged his son to take music lessons at an early age. Already a six footer in his teens, he attended Ridgewood High School and was encouraged by his school music teacher to continue his musical studies, which he would ultimately do most of his life."</ref>{{sfn|Levinson|2005|pp=17–19}}

A formative experience was hearing [[Serge Koussevitsky]] and the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]] playing [[Maurice Ravel]]'s ''[[Boléro]]''. Riddle said later: "...&nbsp;I've never forgotten it. It's almost as if the orchestra leaped from the stage and smacked you in the face&nbsp;..."{{sfn|Levinson|2005|p=22}}

By his teenage years, Riddle had decided to become a professional musician; "...&nbsp;I wanted to be a jazz trombone player, but I didn't have the coordination."{{sfn|Levinson|2005|pp=22–23}} So he began to turn to composing and arranging.

The Riddle family had a summer house in [[Rumson, New Jersey]]. Riddle enjoyed Rumson so much that he convinced his parents to allow him to attend his senior year in high school there (1938).<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080615/ENT/806150314/1031/rss09|last=Cotter|first=Kelly-Jane|title=A Daughter's Devotion|publisher=[[Asbury Park Press]]|date=June 15, 2008 |quote=Nelson lived with his parents in Ridgewood but the family rented rooms in a house in Rumson during the summer. Riddle enjoyed the teen music scene in Rumson so much that he asked to spend his last year of high school in the borough. He and his mother stayed in the rental, and his father visited on weekends.}}</ref>

In Rumson while playing for trumpeter Charlie Briggs' band, the Briggadiers, he met one of the most important influences on his later arranging style: [[Bill Finegan]], with whom he began arranging lessons. Despite being only four years older than Riddle, Finegan was considerably more musically sophisticated,{{sfn|Levinson|2005|p=25}} and within a few years Riddle was creating not only some of the most popular arrangements from the swing era, such as [[Glenn Miller]]'s "[[Little Brown Jug (song)|Little Brown Jug]]", but also great jazz arrangements such as [[Tommy Dorsey]]'s "[[Chlo-e (Song of the Swamp)|Chloe]]" and "[[At Sundown]]" from the mid-1940s.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

After his graduation from [[Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School|Rumson High School]], Riddle spent his late teens and early twenties playing trombone in and occasionally arranging for various local dance bands, culminating in his association with the [[Charlie Spivak]] Orchestra. In 1943, Riddle joined the [[United States Merchant Marine|Merchant Marine]], serving at [[Sheepshead Bay, New York]] for about two years while continuing to work for the Charlie Spivak Orchestra.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

Riddle studied [[orchestration]] under his fellow merchant mariner, composer [[Alan Shulman]]. After his enlistment term ended, Riddle traveled to Chicago to join Tommy Dorsey's orchestra in 1944, where he remained the orchestra's third trombone for eleven months until drafted by the [[United States Army|Army]] in April 1945, shortly before the end of [[World War II]]. He was discharged in June 1946, after fifteen months of active duty. He moved shortly thereafter to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] to pursue a career as an arranger, and spent the next several years writing arrangements for multiple radio and record projects.{{sfn|Levinson|2005|p=69}} In May 1949, [[Doris Day]] had a #2 hit, "[[Again (1949 song)|Again]]", backed by Riddle.