Curtis Fuller

Born Curtis DuBois Fuller on 15 December 1932 in Detroit, Curtis Fuller was an American jazz trombonist whose fluid technique and ambitious solos made him a mainstay of the hard bop scene. His father, who had immigrated from Jamaica, died from tuberculosis before Fuller was born, and his mother died when he was nine, leading him to spend several years in an orphanage run by Jesuits. A nun took him to see Illinois Jacquet's band featuring J.J. Johnson on trombone, sparking his passion for jazz. Fuller attended Cass Tech High School with fellow students Paul Chambers, Donald Byrd, Tommy Flanagan, Thad Jones, and Milt Jackson. After attempting violin then baritone horn, he took up trombone at age 16. He served in the US Army from 1953 to 1955, playing in an army band with Chambers and Cannonball and Nat Adderley, then worked in Detroit with Kenny Burrell and Yusef Lateef before moving to New York in 1957.

Fuller's New York breakthrough was astonishing: in his first nine months, he recorded eight times as leader and appeared on 15 sessions as sideman, including John Coltrane's Blue Train. Alfred Lion of Blue Note first heard Fuller with Miles Davis in the late 1950s, leading to four dates as leader for Blue Note including The Opener, Bone & Bari, and appearances on sessions with Sonny Clark, Bud Powell, Jimmy Smith, Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, and Joe Henderson. Fuller became the first trombonist in the Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet in 1959, then joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1961, staying until 1965. He recorded for Impulse!, Savoy, Epic, and United Artists, toured Europe with Dizzy Gillespie's big band in 1968, and toured with Count Basie from 1975 to 1977. He co-led Giant Bones with Kai Winding in 1979-1980 and toured Europe regularly with the Timeless All-Stars throughout the 1980s.

Fuller was granted an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in 1999 and honoured as 2007 NEA Jazz Master. He continued performing and recording whilst teaching at the New York State Summer School of the Arts. Fuller died on 8 May 2021 aged 88.

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