Career
He is no relation to the jazz trumpeter and vocalist Walter "Rosetta" Fuller. In the 1930s and 1940s, Fuller did extensive work writing and arranging for bandleaders such as Les Hite, Floyd Ray, Jimmie Lunceford, Billy Eckstine, and Tiny Bradshaw. He also worked with Benny Carter, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Count Basie, Machito and Tito Puente.
After World World War II he found himself increasingly in demand as a bebop arranger along with fellow modern arrangers Tadd Dameron, Gil Evans, and George Russell.
Fuller"s work with Dizzy Gillespie was of particular note, yielding the tunes "Manteca", "Swedish Suite", and "One Bass Hit". He is the composer of the jazz standard ballad "I Waited Foreign You."
Fuller started his own publishing company in 1957, and while he continued to work with some jazz musicians (including Stan Kenton in 1955 and again in the 1960s), he also branched out into film music and popular (with Ray Charles, among others).