Howard Curtis, Drums

Howard Curtis first knew we wanted to be a drummer when he heard a high school drum line. “It was the most powerful sound I’d ever heard,” he said. Born in Williamsburg, he made a career in music right here in Virginia—despite years of professional urging that he make the New York jazz scene. A sought-after player up and down the East Coast, he has played at major jazz festivals across the U.S. and around the world, and has performed and/or recorded with such great artists as Lionel Hampton, Rosemary Clooney, Amiri Baraka, Rene Marie, Jon Faddis, Ellis Marsalis, and many more. A veteran educator at several Virginia universities, Curtis is now a full professor at Kunst University in Graz, Austria. He returns to Hampton Roads for this Attucks Jazz Club performance, and a reunion with the jazz artists and fans he has made great music with in the past.