Ted Curson

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

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

He attended Granoff School of Music in Philadelphia. At the suggestion of Miles Davis, he moved to New York in 1956. He performed and recorded with Cecil Taylor in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His composition "Tears for Dolphy" has been used in numerous films.

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

A longtime resident of Montclair, New Jersey, Curson died there on November 4, 2012.

Discography

As leader

• 1961: Plenty of Horn (Old Town)
• 1962: Ted Curson Plays Fire Down Below (Prestige)
• 1964: Tears for Dolphy (Fontana)
• 1965: The New Thing & the Blue Thing (Atlantic)
• 1966: Urge (Fontana)
• 1964-66: Flip Top (Freedom) released 1977
• 1970: Ode to Booker Ervin (EMI Columbia)
• 1971: Pop Wine (Futura)
• 1973: Cattin' Curson (Marge) / Typical Ted (Trident)
• 1974: Quicksand (Atlantic)
• 1976: Blue Piccolo (Whynot) / Ted Curson and Co. (India Navigation)
• 1976: Jubilant Power (Inner City)
• 1978: Blowin' Away (Interplay) with Dizzy Reece
• 1979: The Trio (Interplay)
• 1980: I Heard Mingus (Interplay)
• 1980: Snake Johnson (Chiaroscuro)
• 1996: Traveling On (Evidence)
• 1999: Sugar 'n Spice (Level Green)
• 2007: Ted Curson in Paris: Live at the Sunside (Blue Marge)
• 2008: Ted Curson & The Clinic Sextet (fifty-fifty records)
• 2012: Live in Paris: Plays the Music of Charles Mingus (Elabeth)

As sideman

With Pepper Adams

• California Cookin' (Interplay, 1983 [1991])

With Bill Barron

• The Tenor Stylings of Bill Barron (Savoy, 1961)
• Modern Windows (Savoy, 1961)

With Nick Brignola

• Baritone Madness (Bee Hive, 1977) with Pepper Adams

With Graham Collier

• Hoarded Dreams (Cuneiform, 1983 [2007])

With Andrew Hill

• Spiral (Freedom, 1975)

With Charles Mingus

• Mingus (Candid, 1960)
• Mingus Revisited (Mercury, 1960)
• Mingus at Antibes (Atlantic, 1960)
• Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (Candid, 1960)

With New York Contemporary Five

• Bill Dixon 7-tette/Archie Shepp and the New York Contemporary 5 (Savoy, 1964)

With Sal Nistico

• Neo/Nistico (Bee Hive, 1978)

With Archie Shepp

• Fire Music (Impulse!, 1965)

With Cecil Taylor

• Love for Sale (United Artists, 1959)

With Andrzej Trzaskowski

• Seant (1966)

With The Clinic Sextet

• Studio Live (fifty-fifty records, 2008)

With Spirit of Life Ensemble

• Live au Duc (Rise Up, 2001)
• Planet Jazz (Rise Up, 2009)