In 2007, Nelson signed with the jazz label Native Language Music and released his third album, Let It Go, with guests Seamus Blake, Sara Gazarek, and Anthony Wilson.

His fourth album, I Hear a Rhapsody, was released in 2009 with Nelson's compositions, interpretations of standards, and reinventions of rock songs.

[3] Nelson has worked with Jeff Hamilton, Peter Erskine, and Sara Gazarek, for whom he was written songs and serves as musical director[2] He toured worldwide with vocalist Natalie Cole.

[2][3] One of Gazarek's albums, for which Nelson composed various pieces, and which featured a band led by Nelson, reached number ten on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart.

[2][3] Nelson has been described by jazz critic Chuck Berg as a "brilliant young player whose virtuosity suggest the urbane yet bluesy tradition of Oscar Peterson and Gene Harris",[2] and by journalist and critic Josef Woodard as possessing "his own clean-burning modern mode of jazz".