15 Facts About Curtis Fuller

Curtis DuBois Fuller was an American jazz trombonist.

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

Curtis Fuller's father had emigrated from Jamaica and worked in a Ford factory, but died from tuberculosis before his son was born.

Curtis Fuller spent several years in an orphanage run by Jesuits.

Curtis Fuller attended a public school in his hometown, along with Paul Chambers, Donald Byrd, Tommy Flanagan, Thad Jones, and Milt Jackson.

Curtis Fuller joined the US Army in 1953 to fight in the Korean War.

Curtis Fuller served until 1955, and played in an army band with Chambers and brothers Cannonball and Nat Adderley.

The quintet moved to New York in 1957, and Curtis Fuller recorded his first sessions as a leader with Prestige Records.

Alfred Lion of Blue Note Records first heard Curtis Fuller playing with Miles Davis in the late 1950s.

Curtis Fuller led four dates for Blue Note, though one of these, an album with Slide Hampton, was not issued for many years.

Curtis Fuller was the first trombonist to be part of the Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet.

Curtis Fuller went on tour with Count Basie and reunited with Blakey and Golson.

Curtis Fuller was granted an honorary doctorate of music from the Berklee College of Music in 1999.

Curtis Fuller continued to perform and record, and was a faculty member of the New York State Summer School of the Arts School of Jazz Studies.

Curtis Fuller had eight children, nine grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.