Curtis Sylvester Lowe, Sr. (November 15, 1919 – October 29, 1993) was an American jazz saxophonist. Lowe was born in Chicago, Illinois in November 1919, and raised in Oakland, California. While he is best known professionally as a tenor and baritone saxophonist, he first learned to play soprano saxophone as a youth. He studied briefly in Alabama before deciding to take up music full-time, playing in traveling bands before the outbreak of World War II. He then enlisted in the United States Navy in 1942; his unit band was full of noteworthy jazz musicians, including Vernon Alley, Wilbert Baranco, Buddy Collette, Jerome Richardson,

Ernie Royal Ernest Andrew Royal (June 2, 1921 in Los Angeles, California – March 16, 1983 in New York City) was a jazz trumpeter. His older brother was clarinetist and alto saxophonist Marshal Royal, with whom he appears on the classic Ray Charles big ban ...

, and

Marshall Royal Marshal Walton Royal Jr. (December 5, 1912 – May 8, 1995) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and clarinetist best known for his work with Count Basie, with whose band he played for nearly twenty years. Early life and education Marshal Royal ...

. In the 1950s he worked extensively with

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles M ...

and also played with

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

, Little Esther,

Johnny Otis Johnny Otis (born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes; December 28, 1921 – January 17, 2012) was an American singer, musician, composer, bandleader, record producer, and talent scout. He was a seminal influence on American R&B and rock and roll. He ...

, and Gerald Wilson; he also led his own five-piece ensemble in 1952-1953. In 1958 he began a decade-long association with

Earl Hines Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, " ...

. Lowe was active locally in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

into the 1980s and died there in October 1993 at the age of 73.Ancestry: Curtis Sylvester Lowe in the California, Death Index, 1940-1997
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Curtis 1919 births 1993 deaths American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists Jazz musicians from California American male jazz musicians Musicians from Oakland, California 20th-century American male musicians United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century American saxophonists