I always forget Ted Curson when thinking of great jazz trumpeters. Negligence on my part. He was a gem. I have only started to explore his work as a leader and this one on Atlantic is my second title by him. I’ve started with the early stuff and will work myself forward from that. He has a lovely approach which is quite flamboyant and fiery. Great punchy tone, lyrical, bluesy and lots of technical prowess characterizes his style. That’s my take on his playing on these early dates. Let’s see if it changes with time on his later output.
He recorded several albums together with tenor saxophonist Bill Barron who is featured on this album as well. I really dig his style and I’ve touched upon some of his stuff as well. Will explore further. The other cats on this date are George Arvanitas on piano, Herb Buschler on double bass and Dick Berk on drums. I haven’t heard anything from these guys before from what I can remember, but I really dig all of them, so will have to look their stuff up more in depth as well. Always fun to discover new artists.
Curson composed several of the tunes on this album so he was a great composer which makes exploring the rest of his output even more interesting. I can highly recommend this album if you haven’t heard it before. I guess it’s a nice introduction to his work.
Favorite Ted Curson album as a leader? Give me your recommendations.
I bought this album in a physical record store, which almost never happens so I’m really happy about that. It was a great experience. Most stores in Stockholm don’t really have the stuff I’m after and I have a network of great sources so I usually buy my albums from overseas. Will return to this store regularly for sure.
This year has brought plenty (at least by my standards) new titles into the collection and I’m waiting on a few more which are on their way. This album is one of the highlights for sure so far.
Cheers!
