RUPERT  NURSE DATE OF BIRTH: 1911 PLACE OF BIRTH: Port-of-Spain, Trinidad EDUCATION: ... CAREER:                                 Nurse's family moved to Venezuela during his early years and he grew up learning to speak Spanish. He returned to Trinidad to finish his schooling and teach himself music. He taught school in Tobago for four years while playing the piano and developing arranging skills with a Glen Miller correspondence course. He returned to Trinidad, learned to play the saxaphone, and became a founding member of the Moderneers music band. During World War II, he gained valuable experience playing with and entertaining American musicians who visited Trinidad, and he began to write jazz arrangements of calypso. He went to England in 1945 and played regularly with Fitzroy Coleman at the Black club, The Antilles. He then played bass with various bands in Europe, and recorded with the famous American jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams in 1953. He was the first person to write big band arrangements of calypso. As the arranger, Nurse made many recordings with various Caribbean and African performers, including Lord Kitchener. He retired to Arima, Trinidad. DIED: March 18, 2001, in Arima, Trinidad Compiled by Ronald C. Emrit