Ted Curson

Theodore "Ted" Curson (June 3, 1935 – November 4, 2012) was a jazz trumpeter. He is perhaps best known for recording and performing with Charles Mingus. Curson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He 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 was a resident of Montclair, New Jersey. He was 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. Curson died on November 4, 2012 in New Jersey. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.