Curtis Fuller
b. 15 December 1934, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Fuller began studying trombone in his teens, eventually playing in a band during his military service in the early '50s. As the leader of the band was Cannonball Adderley, it was not surprising that, following his discharge, Fuller quickly turned to jazz. At first he worked in his home town, playing with Kenny Burrell, Yusef Lateef and others, but then moved to New York, where he worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Hampton Hawes, John Coltrane and Miles Davisled his own small bands and was a founder-member of the Jazztet with Art Farmerand Benny Golson. In the early '60s he was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, touring extensively with this band and also with Gillespie. In the '70s Fuller gradually incorporated jazz-rock concepts into his repertoire and worked with musicians such as Stanley Clarke. In the mid-to late '70s he was with Count Basie, Kai Winding, Lionel Hampton, Cedar Walton, Red Garlandand Sal Nisticoand also continued to lead his own groups. In the '80s his musical associates included Golson again and he also played in a reformed Jazztet and in the Timeless All Stars band. A major post-bop stylist on trombone, Fuller's technical facility on the instrument allows him great freedom to develop his inventive lines.