He plays flugelhorn, cornet, and trumpet, amongst a range of other brass instruments, including tenor horn and valve trombone.
In addition to a range of horns, Cuthell also plays bass, keyboards and percussion and is a composer and arranger.
He acted as assistant engineer on Bob Marley's Exodus album,[6] on which he also played horns,[7] and also met Rico Rodriguez, with whom he would later work in The Specials.
[9] Cuthell became, along with Rico Rodriguez, the horn section for the Specials, playing cornet on their debut album, and staying with the band into their later incarnation as the Special A.K.A., playing on the hit single "Free Nelson Mandela", and the album In the Studio.
[1][10][11][12] He co-wrote two of the band's songs, "Bright Lights" and "Racist Friend", released together as a single in 1983, reaching No.