Curtis Fuller

For the American football player, see Curtis Fuller (American football).

Curtis Fuller
Background information
Birth name	Curtis DuBois Fuller
Born	December 15, 1934 (1934-12-15) (age 76)
Origin	Detroit, United States
Genres	Jazz, Hard Bop
Occupations	Trombonist, Performer
Instruments	Trombone
Labels	Blue Note, Prestige, Savoy, Impulse!

Curtis DuBois Fuller (born December 15, 1934, Detroit) is an American jazz trombonist, known as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and contributor to many classic jazz recordings.^[1]

Biography

Fuller's Jamaican-born parents died when he was young; he was raised in an orphanage. While in Detroit he was a schoolfriend of Paul Chambers and Donald Byrd, and also knew Tommy Flanagan, Thad Jones and Milt Jackson. After army service between 1953 and 1955 (when he played in a band with Chambers and brothers Cannonball and Nat Adderley), Fuller joined the quintet of Yusef Lateef, another Detroit musician. In 1957 the quintet moved to New York, and Fuller recorded his first sessions as a leader for Prestige Records.

Alfred Lion of Blue Note Records first heard him playing with Miles Davis in the late 1950s, and featured him as a sideman on record dates led by Sonny Clark and John Coltrane; Fuller's work on the latter's Blue Train album is probably his best known recorded performance. Fuller led four dates for Blue Note, though one of these, an album with Slide Hampton, was not issued for many years. Other sideman appearances over the next decade included work on albums under the leadership of Bud Powell, Jimmy Smith, Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan and Joe Henderson (a former room mate at Wayne State University in 1956).

Fuller was also the first trombonist to be a member of the Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet, later becoming the sixth man in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1961, staying with Blakey until 1965. In the early 1960s, he recorded two albums as a leader for Impulse! Records, having also recorded for Savoy Records and Epic after his obligations to Blue Note had ended. In the late 1960s, he was part of Dizzy Gillespie's band, that also featured Foster Elliott. He went on to tour with Count Basie and also reunited with Blakey and Golson.

Fuller continues to perform and record, and is currently a faculty member of the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA) School of Jazz Studies (SJS).^[2]

On January 13, 2010, Curtis' wife, Catherine Rose Driscoll Fuller died.

Discography

As leader

• 1957: Curtis Fuller with Red Garland
• 1957: New Trombone
• 1957: The Opener (Blue Note Records)
• 1957: Bone & Bari (Blue Note Records)
• 1957: Curtis Fuller Volume 3 (Blue Note Records)
• 1958: Two Bones (Blue Note Records)
• 1959: Imagination
• 1959: Blues-Ette
• 1960: Images of Curtis Fuller
• 1961: South American Cookin'
• 1961: The Magnificent Trombone of Curtis Fuller
• 1961: Soul Trombone (Impulse! Records)
• 1962: Cabin in the Sky (Impulse! Records)
• 1978: Four on the Outside (Timeless Records) ^[3]
• 1978: Fire And Filigree (Bee Hive Records) with Sam Jones, Freddie Waits, Walter Bishop, Jr., Sal Nistico
• 1982: Curtis Fuller Meets Roma Jazz Trio (Timeless Records)
• 1993: Blues-Ette 2
• 2004: Up Jumped Spring
• 2005: Keep It Simple
• 2010: I Will Tell Her
• 2011: The Story of Cathy and Me (Challenge Records) with Lester Walker, Daniel V Bauerkemper Sr., Akeem Marable, Heny Conerway III, Clarence Levy, Nick Rosen, Kenny Banks Jr, Brandy Brewer, Kevin Smith, Tia Michelle Rouse

As sideman

With Art Blakey

• Buhaina's Delight
• Caravan
• Free For All
• Indestructible
• Mosaic
• Ugetsu
• Three Blind Mice (1962)

With John Coltrane

• Blue Train

With Sonny Clark

• Dial "S" for Sonny
• Sonny's Crib

With Lou Donaldson

• Lou Takes Off

With Kenny Dorham

• This Is the Moment!

With Gil Evans

• Great Jazz Standards

With Benny Golson

• Meet The Jazztet
• Gettin' With It
• Gone With Golson
• Groovin' With Golson
• The Other Side Of Benny Golson

With Jimmy Heath

• The Thumper

With Joe Henderson

• Mode for Joe

With Freddie Hubbard

• The Body & the Soul

With Philly Joe Jones

• Drums Around The World

With Quincy Jones

• Newport '61

With Clifford Jordan

• Cliff Jordan

With Jackie McLean

• A Long Drink Of The Blues
• Makin' The Changes

With Blue Mitchell

• Big 6
• Blue Soul

With Hank Mobley

• A Caddy for Daddy

With Lee Morgan

• City Lights
• Tom Cat

With Bud Powell

• Bud! The Amazing Bud Powell (Vol. 3)

With Wayne Shorter

• Schizophrenia

With Jimmy Smith

• House Party
• The Sermon!

With Stanley Turrentine

• In Memory Of
• Mr. Natural
• The Sugar Man

With Phil Woods

• Rights Of Swing

References

1. ^ Allmusic
2. ^ NYSSSA SJS Artistic Staff
3. ^ http://www.jazzreview.com/cdreview.cfm?ID=3860

External links

• WICN Worcester Jazz & Folk Radio Interview
• New England Jazz History Database - Curtis Fuller Search

Persondata
Name	Fuller, Curtis
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 15, 1934
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death