Trombonist Curtis DuBois Fuller (1932-2021) was raised in an orphanage in Detroit. He was friends with Paul Chambers and Donald Byrd growing up, and also knew Tommy Flanagan, Thad Jones and Milt Jackson. He served in the army from 1953-1955, where he played in a band with Chambers along with Cannonball and Nat Adderley.

Fuller played as a sideman on recordings with Sonny Clark and John Coltrane in the 1950s, and later worked with Bud Powell, Jimmy Smith, Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan and Joe Henderson, who was his room mate at Wayne State University in 1956. Fuller traveled to New York in 1957 with the Lateef quintet, and word of his talent spread rapidly. He cites his early influences as J.J. Johnson Jimmy Cleveland, Bob Brookmeyer and Urbie Green, but even early in his career, Fuller had his own unique style.

Fuller was the first trombonist in the Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet, later joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the late 1960s, he was part of Dizzy Gillespie's band, and toured with Count Basie. During the ’70s, he experimented with hard bop arrangements, eventually returning to Basie's band in 1975. Fuller played with Art Blakey, Cedar Walton, and Benny Golson in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

In 2007 Fuller was named an NEA Jazz Master.

He passed away in Detroit at age 88 on May 8, 2021.