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Curtis Fuller: I Will Tell Her
by Woodrow Wilkins
The title song and two-disc set are dedicated to a true love, but the music is clearly for the audience. I Will Tell Her, by trombonist Curtis Fuller, achieves plenty. The title song was written for Fuller's wife of 30 years, Cathy, who died before getting a chance to hear the music. The artist explains that she was a source of inspiration. That love comes through clearly in the 14 tracks--eight recorded in studio and six during a ...
Continue ReadingCurtis Fuller: The Opener
by Graham L. Flanagan
What a rare privilege it is to review a new entry in Blue Note's esteemed RVG reissues series knowing that the featured artist can still be caught at venues around New York City. Such is the case with trombone virtuoso Curtis Fuller, whose 1957 Blue Note debut The Opener has been remastered courtesy of the great Rudy Van Gelder. Although he recorded two sessions for Prestige that predated it, Fuller's Blue Note date hit the shelves first. Therefore its title ...
Continue ReadingCurtis Fuller: Motor City Messenger
by Russ Musto
The most recorded jazz trombonist of his lifetime, Curtis Fuller's illustrious career spans six decades and includes tenures with many of the greatest names in this music. Born Dec. 15th, 1934 in Detroit, Fuller was orphaned at an early age, but found family in the close-knit jazz community of the musically fertile Motor City. He first picked up the trombone in the school band at Cass Tech High School, where his fellow students included Donald Byrd and Paul Chambers and ...
Continue ReadingCurtis Fuller: The Opener
by Chris May
Detroit-born trombonist Curtis Fuller stepped into the hard bop big league during the summer of 1957 with a flurry of high profile sideman dates and two albums as leader, New Trombone (Prestige, 1957) and The Opener, made within a few weeks of each other. The Opener, a lithe and soulful but largely forgotten disc, has been rereleased as part of Blue Note's Rudy Van Gelder Remaster series.
In 1957, the big league meant New York, where Fuller had ...
Continue ReadingCurtis Fuller: Up Jumped Spring; Keep It Simple
by Terrell Kent Holmes
The timeless Curtis Fuller has been a brand name trombone player for about 50 years now and he's never sounded better than he does on his two new releases, Up Jumped Spring and Keep It Simple, which will enhance his standing as one of the bright and enduring stars in the jazz firmament. These discs prove that not only does he still have strong chops but he can bring a fresh perspective to classics and originals. This was evident during ...
Continue ReadingSonny Clark: Sonny's Crib
by Reid Thompson
Sonny's Crib is a very pleasing recording from the sadly overlooked pianist Sonny Clark that works very well as a representative piece of the Blue Note catalogue at the time, framing all the characteristics that made that label so successful. It is essentially a blowing session, and to some extent, a preparation for Coltrane's seminal Blue Train, which was recorded several weeks after Sonny's Crib and featured the same ensemble with Lee Morgan subbing for Donald Byrd and Kenny Drew ...
Continue ReadingBenny Golson: One Day, Forever
by AAJ Staff
Benny Golson’s latest Arkadia release, One Day, Forever, arose from a taping of some of Golson’s previous band members from the Jazztet: Art Farmer and Curtis Fuller. At the end of a European tour, they were so rushed they that they didn’t record long enough to fill an entire CD. Arkadia owner Bob Karcy kept the tape in the can, and he and Golson kept that recording in mind, in the intervening five years, during which Farmer passed. After Golson ...
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