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Ted Curson
Theodore "Ted" Curson (born June 3, 1935, died November 4, 2012) was a jazz trumpeter. He was perhaps best-known for recording and performing with Charles Mingus. Curson got interested in playing trumpet through the fact that the local newspaper salesman had a silver trumpet that he was playing on the streets while selling newspapers. Curson's father could not afford a trumpet and besides, he wanted Ted to become an alto player like his idol, Louis Jordan. Finally, when Ted was 10 years old, his father found an old trumpet for him in the Navy Yard. He soon after formed a band, the Bebop Trio, with friends from the neighbourhood. Curson attended Granoff Musical Conservatory. At the suggestion of Miles Davis, he moved to New York in 1956. In 1961 he recorded his first record with pianist Cecil Taylor. Curson was a resident of Montclair, New Jersey. He was also a honorary citizen of Pori, Finland.
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Charles Mingus: Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus To Pre Bird Revisited
by Chris May
In his liner notes for Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus To Pre Bird Revisited, Bill Shoemaker sets out the context in which the two featured albums should be considered. He observes that so enormous was Charles Mingus' artistic vision that no two (or perhaps three) albums can encompass its totality. How true that is, even of the pairing of two Mingus albums that are as different as could be: Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (Candid, 1960) and Pre Bird (Mercury, ...
read moreCharles Mingus: At Antibes 1960 Revisited
by Mark Corroto
At Antibes could easily be an all-time favorite Charles Mingus recording if he had not produced such extraordinary sessions as Mingus Ah Um (Columbia, 1959), Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (Candid, 1961), The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady (Impulse!, 1963) and Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (Impulse!, 1964). Listeners can make their own picks, but this live recording from 1960 at the Antibes Jazz Festival in Juan-les-Pins, France, has a power unique unto itself. One can almost feel the ...
read moreCharles Mingus: At Antibes 1960 Revisited
by Chris May
Charles Mingus' exhilarating blend of roots and the avant-garde only rarely seems as binary* (see below) as it does on this recording from the 1960 Antibes Jazz Festival. Most often on a Mingus album, you do not hear the joins. This time, on one level, you do. Mingus leads a pianoless quintet completed by Booker Ervin on tenor saxophone, Eric Dolphy on alto saxophone and bass clarinet, Ted Curson on trumpet and Dannie Richmond on drums. Bud Powell ...
read moreFire Starters
by Patrick Burnette
The boys take another walk down the “out" side of the street this episode, with looks at a little known outing from one of Charles Mingus' trumpet players to a twin-guitar / alto sax ensemble, to two rather challenging works on the Pyroclastic label. Mike's more patient with those efforts than Pat. Who's ready for some asbestos earmuffs? Pop matters delves into what Iggy Pop got up to with his buddy David Bowie during that infamous Berlin hang.
read moreArchie Shepp: Fire Music To Mama Too Tight Revisited
by Chris May
In 2022, it is widely accepted that, when free jazz (aka the New Thing) was in its ascent in New York in the 1960s, there was, despite superficial appearances, no fundamental incompatibility between it and the historical jazz tradition. More contentiously, revisionist historians are now suggesting that there was no real conflict between New Thing and changes-based or modal-based musicians either. They should try telling that to Archie Shepp. In autumn 1966, during the Miles Davis quintet's ...
read moreNew York Contemporary Five: Consequences Revisited
by Mark Corroto
This 2020 reissue of the New York Contemporary Five recordings from 1963-64 can't help but draw one's attention to the social unrest occurring in America in 2020. In 1964 the riots in Harlem and Philadelphia over police brutality were followed by similar riots a few years later in Watts, Newark, Detroit, etc. In the growing civil unrest these recordings were born. The New Thing was the equivalent to what Chuck D of Public Enemy claimed when he said rap music ...
read moreTed Curson: In Paris: Live at the Sunside
by Ken Dryden
Ted Curson is still very active as a trumpeter and flugelhornist in his seventies, when most players formerly had to give up the instrument for health reasons. Surrounding himself with a strong, young band made up of enthusiastic French musicians, plus several vocalists, Curson's two-CD set compiles highlights from a pair of nights at the Sunside in Paris. Like Dizzy Gillespie, Curson's intonation and power aren't what they were as a younger man, but his solos are ...
read moreBurning Hard Bop of the Day: "Milestones" with Ted Curson and More
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Ni Kantu by Clifford Allen
AAJ NY Presents Ted Curson & Henry Grimes (6/2) at Cornelia St. Cafe
Source:
All About Jazz
June 1, 2005 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected] History in the making!... THURSDAY JUNE 2nd, 2005 AllAboutJazz-New York Presents “1s & 2s: Music For Solo & Duo" FEATURING: TED CURSON (trumpet) & HENRY GRIMES (bass) “Ted Curson's 70th Birthday!" at Cornelia Street Cafe 29 Cornelia Street Greenwich Village, NY 10014 Tel: 212-989-9319 Fax: 212-243-4207 Web: corneliastreetcafe.com *8:30 and 10pm sets - $12 TED CURSON: Philadelphia trumpeter Ted Curson grew up hearing and playing jazz ...
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"1s & 2s" featuring Ted Curson & Henry Grimes in New York on June 2nd!
Source:
All About Jazz
History in the making!... Thursday June 2nd, 2005 AllAboutJazz-New York Presents “1s & 2s: Music For Solo & Duo" FEATURING: TED CURSON (trumpet) & HENRY GRIMES (bass) “Ted Curson's 70th Birthday!" at Cornelia Street Cafe 29 Cornelia Street Greenwich Village, NY 10014 Tel: 212-989-9319 Fax: 212-243-4207 ...
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Ted Curson
Instrument: Trumpet
Born: June 3, 1935
Died: November 4, 2012
