Curtis Fuller


Curtis DuBois Fuller was an American jazz trombonist. He was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and contributed to many classic jazz recordings.

Early life

Fuller was born in Detroit on December 15, 1932. Throughout his life, his birthdate was reported differently because he had added two years to his age at 17, in part to gain work. His father had immigrated from Jamaica and worked in a Ford factory, but died from tuberculosis before his son was born. His mother, who had moved north from Atlanta, died when Curtis was nine. He spent several years in an orphanage run by Jesuits. Fuller developed a passion for jazz after one of the nuns took him to see Illinois Jacquet and his band, with J. J. Johnson on trombone.
Fuller attended a public school in his hometown, along with Paul Chambers, Donald Byrd, Tommy Flanagan, Thad Jones, and Milt Jackson. After attempting the violin, and with the saxophone being unavailable, he took up the trombone when he was 16. He studied under Johnson and Elmer James.

Career

Fuller joined the U.S. Army in 1953 to fight in the Korean War. He served until 1955, and played in an army band with Chambers and brothers Cannonball and Nat Adderley. Upon his return from military service, Fuller joined the quintet of Yusef Lateef, another Detroit musician. The quintet moved to New York in 1957, and Fuller recorded his first sessions as a leader with Prestige Records.
Alfred Lion of Blue Note Records first heard Fuller playing with Miles Davis in the late 1950s. Fuller led four dates for Blue Note, though one of these, an album with Slide Hampton, was not issued for many years. Lion featured Fuller as a sideman on record dates led by Sonny Clark and John Coltrane. Other sideman appearances over the next decade included album work under the leadership of Bud Powell, Jimmy Smith, Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan and Joe Henderson.
Fuller was the first trombonist to be part of the Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet. In 1961, he became the sixth member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and stayed with Blakey until 1965. In the early 1960s, Fuller recorded two albums as a leader for Impulse! Records, having also recorded for Savoy Records, United Artists, 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 tour with Count Basie and also reunited with Blakey and Golson.

Later life

Fuller married Catherine Rose Driscoll in 1980. She died of lung cancer in 2010; Fuller recorded his album The Story of Cathy & Me as a tribute.
Fuller was granted an honorary doctorate of music from the Berklee College of Music in 1999. Eight years later, he was honored as an NEA Jazz Master. He continued to perform and record, and was a faculty member of the New York State Summer School of the Arts School of Jazz Studies.
Fuller died May 8, 2021, at the age of 88. He had eight children, nine grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.

Discography

As sideman

With Count BasieBasie Big Band I Told You So Prime Time Fun Time – rec. 1975
With Dave BaileyOne Foot in the Gutter Gettin' Into Somethin' Bash! /Modern Mainstream
With Art BlakeyArt Blakey!!!!! Jazz Messengers!!!!! Mosaic Three Blind Mice Caravan Ugetsu The African Beat Buhaina's Delight Golden Boy Free For All 'S Make It Indestructible Kyoto Thermo In My Prime Vol. 1 Live at the Renaissance Club Live Messengers
With Sonny ClarkDial "S" for Sonny Sonny's Crib
With John ColtraneBlue Train Tanganyika Strut Coltrane co-led with Wilbur HardenJazz Way Out as for Tanganyika StrutDial Africa: The Savoy Sessions reissue of the 1958 Savoy sessionsGold Coast – rec. 1958
With Kenny DorhamThis Is the Moment! Hot Stuff from Brazil
With Art FarmerBrass Shout Meet the Jazztet
With Joe FarnsworthIt's Prime Time Drumspeak
With Benny GolsonGroovin' with Golson The Other Side of Benny Golson Gone with Golson Gettin' with It Take a Number from 1 to 10 Pop + Jazz = Swing /Just Jazz! California Message One More Mem'ry
With Lionel HamptonHamp in Haarlem Live in Europe Outrageous
With Jimmy HeathThe Thumper Love and Understanding Fast Company The Time and the Place
With Joe HendersonMode for Joe In Pursuit of Blackness
With Freddie HubbardThe Artistry of Freddie Hubbard The Body & the Soul
With Philly Joe JonesDrums Around the World Together!
With Quincy JonesNewport '61 The Quintessence
With Yusef LateefJazz for the Thinker Stable Mates Jazz Mood Before Dawn: The Music of Yusef Lateef The Centaur and the Phoenix
With Mike LongoThe Awakening New York '78
With MachitoWith Flute to Boot Latin Soul Plus Jazz
With Blue MitchellBig 6 Blue Soul
With Jackie McLeanMakin' the Changes A Long Drink of the Blues
With Hank MobleyMonday Night at Birdland Another Monday Night at Birdland A Caddy for Daddy
With Lee MorganCity Lights Tom Cat
With David "Fathead" NewmanSong for the New Man Diamondhead
With Woody ShawWoody III For Sure! Rosewood
With Jimmy SmithHouse Party Confirmation Special Guests
With Stanley TurrentineThe Sugar Man In Memory Of
With Cedar WaltonEastern Rebellion 3 Cedar's Blues
With others