“Life is a lot like jazz... it's best when you improvise”. George Gershwin
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31 Jan

Curtis Fuller

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Curtis Fuller is known as a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and contributor to many classic jazz recordings.

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).

“What is as remarkable about Curtis Fuller as his lyrical improvising and ingenious writing, is his personality. On the road, on stage, or in the studio, Curtis is a relaxed professional who lifts every situation with his inredible sense of humor and his natural sparkle.” Michael Cuscuna

Curtis Fuller Sextet on February 14,15.16 & 17, 2013 at Half Note at 22:30 – Trivonianou 17, Metz, Athens -210 9213310

Last modified on Monday, 04 November 2013 10:05
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