Curtis Fuller


Curtis DuBois Fuller is an American jazz trombonist, known as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and contributor to many classic jazz recordings.

Biography

Fuller's Jamaican-born parents died when he was young; he was raised in an orphanage. While in Detroit he was a school friend of Paul Chambers and Donald Byrd, and also knew Tommy Flanagan, Thad Jones and Milt Jackson. After army service between 1953 and 1955, 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 Fuller 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 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.
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, Fuller 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. Fuller went on to tour with Count Basie and also reunited with Blakey and Golson.
In 1999, Curtis Fuller was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music.
In 2007 Fuller was named an NEA Jazz Master.
Fuller continues to perform and record, and is a faculty member of the New York State Summer School of the Arts School of Jazz Studies.
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Curtis Fuller among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Discography

As leader

With Ahmed Abdul-Malik
With Dave Bailey
With Count Basie
With Walter Bishop Jr.
  • Cubicle
With Art Blakey
With Bob Brookmeyer
With Paul Chambers
With John Coltrane
With Sonny Clark
With Buddy DeFranco
With Lou Donaldson
With Kenny Dorham
With Gil Evans
With Art Farmer
With Tommy Flanagan
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Benny Golson
With Slide Hampton
With Wilbur Harden
With Hampton Hawes
With Albert Heath
With Jimmy Heath
With Joe Henderson
With Freddie Hubbard
With John Jenkins
With Philly Joe Jones
With Quincy Jones
With Clifford Jordan
With Yusef Lateef
With Abbey Lincoln
  • It's Magic
With Mike Longo
  • The Awakening
With Machito
With Gary McFarland
  • Today
With Jackie McLean
  • Makin' the Changes
  • A Long Drink of the Blues
With Blue Mitchell
  • Big 6
  • Blue Soul
With Hank Mobley
  • A Caddy for Daddy
With Lee Morgan
  • City Lights
  • Tom Cat
With David "Fathead" Newman
  • Song for the New Man
  • Diamondhead
With Houston Person
  • Blue Odyssey
  • Very PERSONal
With Bud Powell
  • Bud! The Amazing Bud Powell
With Paul Quinichette
With Woody Shaw
  • Woody III
  • For Sure!
With Wayne Shorter
  • Schizophrenia
With Jimmy Smith
  • House Party
  • The Sermon!
With the Timeless All Stars
  • It's Timeless
  • Timeless Heart
  • Essence
With Charles Tolliver
  • Music Inc.
With Stanley Turrentine
  • In Memory of
  • Mr. Natural
  • The Sugar Man
With Cedar Walton
  • Eastern Rebellion 3
  • Eastern Rebellion 4
  • Cedar's Blues
With Frank Wess
  • Opus de Blues
With Larry Willis
  • A Tribute to Someone
With Phil Woods'