Curtis DuBois Fuller, a renowned hard bop trombonist, will perform with the NIU Jazz Ensemble in the Duke Ellington Ballroom tonight under the direction of Ron Carter.

Fuller, the 73-year-old who used to play with the likes of Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, is best known for playing on John Coltrane’s “Blue Train.”

Fuller is notable for being the only trombonist to have recorded with Coltrane, Bud Powell and Jimmy Smith.

The NIU Jazz Studies Program has been rated as one of the top 10 graduate jazz programs in the country for the past three years by U.S. News and World Report.

The show begins at 8 p.m. and is free and open to the public.