Jeff Fuller
Biography
Jeff Fuller (b. 1945, Connecticut) is an American bassist and composer.
Fuller receive his bachelor's degree cum laude from Yale College in 1965. Since earning a master’s degree from the Yale School of Music in 1969, Fuller has become a prolific jazz composer as well as an internationally renowned touring and recording artist.
An integral part of the Connecticut, New York and international jazz scenes, Fuller has toured worldwide and recorded with saxophonists Lou Donaldson and Paquito D'Rivera. He has played with jazz masters from all styles and eras including such diverse artists as Dizzy Gillespie, Mose Allison, “Papa” Jo Jones, Gerry Mulligan, and Clark Terry. Fuller is one of the most sought after jazz bassists in Connecticut, and currently leads his own ensembles in many venues. In 2014, he was presented with the annual Jazz Haven Award, “For all you have done in presenting and preserving the culture and music of jazz.”
Fuller has wide experience in both Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music. He composes and arranges for the top salsa group, Irazú. He is co-leader of the popular group, Sambeleza, which features singer/pianist Isabella Mendes and guitarist Joe Carter. His earlier Brazilian jazz group, Samba Brasil, was seven-time winner of the "Best Latin" category in the Hartford Advocate Reader’s Poll.
Always expanding his compositional repertoire and vocabulary, Fuller has received commissions from both the New Haven and the Hartford Symphony Orchestras and has twice received project grants from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. He has been the recipient of multiple commissions from 3-2 Music, Florida International University, Yale University and UConn.
He has been ensemble coach for the Yale School of Music Jazz Initiative since 2016. From 1995 to 2016, Fuller taught composition, jazz theory, and arranged and conducted for the jazz and classical ensembles at ACES-Educational Center for the Arts, New Haven’s arts magnet high school. He also teaches private lessons and conducts and arranges for the outstanding Premier Jazz Ensemble of the Neighborhood Music School.
Works for Winds
- Afro-Cuban Suite (2023)
Resources
- Jeff Fuller website Accessed 9 February 2023
- Szabo, Nick. "How Jeff Fuller Built a Career One Note at a Time." New Haven Independent, 9 May 2018. Web. Accessed 9 February 2023