Theodore "Ted" Curson (born June 3, 1935, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a jazz trumpeter. He is perhaps best-known for recording and performing with Charles Mingus.

Curson became interested in playing trumpet after watching a newspaper salesman play a silver trumpet. Curson's father, however, preferred that Ted become an alto saxophone player like Louis Jordan. Finally, when Ted was 10 years old, he received a "raggedy" trumpet.

Curson attended Granoff Musical Conservatory. At the suggestion of Miles Davis, he moved to New York in 1956. Curson performed and recorded with Cecil Taylor in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His 1964 composition "Tears for Dolphy" has been used in the films Teorema, Last Date, and The Brown Bunny.

Curson is currently residing in Montclair, New Jersey.

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