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All Music Guide:
An excellent and flexible trumpeter, Ted Curson will always be best-known for his work with Charles Mingus' 1960 quartet (which also included Eric Dolphy and Dannie Richmond). He studied at Granoff Musical Conservatory; moved to New York in 1956; played in New York with Mal Waldron, Red Garland, and Philly Joe Jones; and recorded with Cecil Taylor (1961). After the 1959-1960 Mingus association (which resulted in some classic recordings), Curson co-led a quintet with Bill Barron (1960-1965), played with Max Roach, and led his own groups. He spent time from the late '60s on in Europe (particularly Denmark) but has had a lower profile than one would expect since his return to the U.S. in 1976. Ted Curson has led sessions for Old Town (1961), Prestige, Fontana, Atlantic, Arista, Inner City, Interplay, Chiaroscuro, and several European labels, but has barely been on records at all since 1980.
Wikipedia:
Theodore "Ted" Curson (born June 3, 1935, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a jazz trumpeter. He is perhaps best known for recording and performing with Charles Mingus.
Curson became interested in playing trumpet after watching a newspaper salesman play a silver trumpet. Curson's father, however, preferred that Ted become an alto saxophone player like Louis Jordan. Finally, when Ted was 10 years old, he received a "raggedy" trumpet.
Curson attended Granoff Musical Conservatory. At the suggestion of Miles Davis, he moved to New York in 1956. Curson performed and recorded with Cecil Taylor in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His 1964 composition "Tears for Dolphy" has been used in the films Teorema, Last Date, and The Brown Bunny.
Curson is a resident of Montclair, New Jersey. He is also a familiar face in Finland, having performed annually at the Pori Jazz festival each year since the beginning of the event in 1966. In 2007, Curson performed at Finland's Independence Day Ball at the invitation of president Tarja Halonen.
