Ted Curson

Theodore Curson (June 3, 1935 – November 4, 2012) was an American jazz trumpeter.[1][2]

Ted Curson
Ted Curson in Turku, Finland, July 2009
Ted Curson in Turku, Finland, July 2009
Background information
Born(1935-06-03)June 3, 1935
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedNovember 4, 2012(2012-11-04) (aged 77)
Montclair, New Jersey
GenresJazz, avant-garde jazz
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Trumpet
Years active1955–2012
LabelsPrestige, Fontana, Atlantic, Freedom, Futura, Marge, Trident, Whynot, Inner City, Chiaroscuro

Life and career

Curson was born in Philadelphia.[1] He became interested in playing trumpet after watching a newspaper salesman play a silver trumpet.[3] Curson's father, however, wanted him to play alto saxophone like Louis Jordan.[3] When he was ten, he gained his first trumpet.[3]

He attended Granoff School of Music in Philadelphia.[4] At the suggestion of Miles Davis, he moved to New York in 1956.[1] He performed and recorded with Cecil Taylor in the late 1950s and early 1960s.[1][5] His composition "Tears for Dolphy" has been used in numerous films.[6][7][8] He was featured in a profile on composer Graham Collier in the 1985 Channel 4 documentary 'Hoarded Dreams' [9]

He was a familiar face in Finland, having performed at the Pori Jazz festival every year since it began in 1966.[2] In 2007, he performed at Finland's Independence Day Ball at the invitation of president Tarja Halonen.[10]

A longtime resident of Montclair, New Jersey,[11] Curson died from a heart attack in the township on November 4, 2012.[2]

Discography

As leader
  • Plenty of Horn (Old Town, 1961)
  • Ted Curson Plays Fire Down Below (Prestige, 1963)
  • Live at La'Tete De L'Art (Trans-World, 1962)
  • Tears for Dolphy (Fontana, 1965)
  • The New Thing & the Blue Thing (Atlantic, 1965)
  • Urge (Fontana, 1966)
  • Ode to Booker Ervin (Columbia, 1970)
  • Pop Wine (Futura, 1971)
  • Cattin' Curson (Marge, 1975)
  • Blue Piccolo (Whynot, 1976)
  • Jubilant Power (Inner City, 1976)
  • Quicksand (Atlantic, 1977)
  • Flip Top (Arista/Freedom, 1977)
  • Fireball (Trio, 1979)
  • Blowin' Away with Dizzy Reece (Interplay, 1978)
  • The Trio (Interplay, 1979)
  • I Heard Mingus (Trio, 1980)
  • Snake Johnson (Chiaroscuro, 1981)
  • Traveling On (Evidence, 1997)

As sideman

With Bill Barron

  • The Tenor Stylings of Bill Barron (Savoy, 1961)
  • Modern Windows (Savoy, 1962)
  • Now, Hear This! (Audio Fidelity, 1964)

With Charles Mingus

With Cecil Taylor

  • Love for Sale (United Artists, 1959)
  • Into the Hot (Impulse!, 1962)
  • In Transition (Blue Note, 1975)
  • The New Breed (ABC Impulse!, 1978) (reissue of tracks from Into the Hot)

With others

  • Pepper Adams, California Cookin' (Interplay, 1991)
  • Ran Blake, Film Noir (Arista Novus, 1980)
  • Nick Brignola, Baritone Madness (Bee Hive, 1978)
  • Bill Dixon & Archie Shepp, Bill Dixon 7-tette/Archie Shepp and the New York Contemporary 5 (Savoy, 1964)
  • Graham Collier, Hoarded Dreams (Cuneiform, 2007)
  • Eric Dolphy, Candid, Dolphy (Candid, 1989)
  • Eric Dolphy, Outward Bound (Poll Winners, 2011)
  • Gil Evans, Into The Hot (Impulse!, 1962)
  • Andrew Hill, Spiral (Arista/Freedom, 1975)
  • Karin Krog, Joy (Meantime, 2008)
  • Teo Macero, Impressions of Charles Mingus (Palo Alto, 1983)
  • Misha Mengelberg & Piet Noordijk, Journey (MCN, 2011)
  • Mark Murphy, Living Room (Muse, 1986)
  • Sal Nistico, Neo/Nistico (Bee Hive, 1978)
  • Archie Shepp, Fire Music (Impulse!, 1965)
  • Archie Shepp, Quartet (FreeFactory, 2009)
  • Andrzej Trzaskowski, Seant (1966)

References
  1. Wynn, Ron (1994). Ron Wynn (ed.). All Music Guide to Jazz. Allmusic. M. Erlewine, V. Bogdanov. San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books. p. 183. ISBN 0-87930-308-5.
  2. Gustafsson, Sari (2012-11-04). "Pori Jazzin legenda Ted Curson kuoli". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Lehtikuva.
  3. Allen, Clifford (2005-06-02). "Ted Curson: Atypical Ted". Allaboutjazz.com. All About Jazz. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
  4. Biography at AllMusic (web version)
  5. Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (Eighth ed.). New York: Penguin. p. 1267. ISBN 0-14-102327-9.
  6. "Ted Curson". ATPFestival.com. All Tomorrow's Parties. 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
  7. Gilchrist, Todd (2006-03-20). "Teorema". IGN.com. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
  8. Teorema at IMDb
  9. https://www.bright-thoughts.co.uk/hoarded-dreams.html Hoarded Dreams documentary website
  10. "The President's Independence Day Reception on 6 December 2007". Office of the President of the Republic of Finland. Archived from the original on 2007-06-26. Retrieved 2009-03-24.
  11. "The State of Jazz: Meet 40 More Jersey Greats", The Star-Ledger, September 28, 2003, backed up by the Internet Archive as of September 27, 2008. Accessed September 15, 2017. "Ted Curson -- Long-time Montclair resident Curson is a bold trumpeter who has performed and/or recorded with Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Andrew Hill, Cecil Taylor and the Spirit of Life Ensemble."
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