Birthday greetings to trumpeter Ted Curson, who celebrates N0. 76 today.
Born in Philadelphia, Curson is most famous, beyond jazz circles, in Finland.
Curson, from jazztimes.com: “It started in 1965, actually. I was playing in Paris, and three guys approached me, said ‘We’re from Finland. Do you know of Finland?’ And I said, ‘Yes,’ because when I was a kid I remember singing Sibelius’ ‘Finlandia.’ I don’t know why black kids in a black neighborhood in a black school in the U.S. would be singing ‘Finlandia,’ but we did . . . So anyway, the guys said they liked me and thought people in Finland would like my music and would I like to come? I said, ‘Sure, just make the arrangements.’ ”
That summer Curson played in the very first Pori Jazz Festival; he’s played in every one since. Curson even played, invited by the president, at the country’s Independence Day Ball in 2007.
Even without his Fu Manchu mustache, Curson is easily recognizable. His endorsement is valued on TV advertisements in Finland, and he’s appeared on a “Got Milk” commercial there.
In this country, he’s best known — if lesser so — for his playing with Charles Mingus and testing boundaries with Eric Dolphy, Archie Shepp and Cecil Taylor, among others.
A link to a Curson performance at a jazz festival in Hungary in 1987:
Sources: jazztimes.com, wikipedia.org, philly.com
Tags: Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor, Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Finland, Philadelphia, Pori Jazz, Ted Curson
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