He attended New York University (NYU), where he studied English, and then moved to San Francisco where he worked on the staffs of alternative publications including The Berkeley Barb and Heliotrope.
Nisenson became a lifelong lover of jazz at the age of 15, when he listened to trumpeter Miles Davis's 1959 album Kind of Blue.
The illness largely kept Nisenson confined to his house, but as he fought it he focused increasingly on his work.
The year 2000 saw two new works from Nisenson, The Making of Kind of Blue, which focuses on the inspiration behind the landmark album; and a biography of saxophonist Sonny Rollins called Open Sky: Sonny Rollins and His World of Improvisation.
At the time of his death, he was working on a biography of pianist Dave Brubeck and a study of Brazilian music and culture.