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Curtis Counce

Born in Kansas City, Counce studied violin and tuba early on before settling on the string bass. He went on the road when he was 16, playing with the Nat Towles Band in Omaha. After some freelancing, Counce moved to Los Angeles in 1945, working with Johnny Otis and making his recording debut the following year with Lester Young. During the ‘50’s he was a key member of the West Coast jazz scene, recording as a sideman with Shelly Manne, Lyle Murphy, Teddy Charles, Clifford Brown, and many others. In 1956, Counce organized a quintet comprised of trumpeter Jack Sheldon, tenor saxophonist Harold Land, pianist Carl Perkins, and drummer Frank Butler. During a 15-month period, they recorded enough material to document their endeavor, all of which were originally released by Contemporary and fall stylistically between West Coast cool jazz and hard bop. With slightly different personnel, the Curtis Counce Quintet recorded a final album for the Dooto label before breaking up in 1958. The bassist continued working in the Los Angeles area until his premature death in 1963 from a heart attack. “The Complete Studio Recordings; The Master Takes,” has been issued by Gambit in 2006 as a compilation of this bassists recordings. There is an excellent review on this collection by Samuel Chell here at ‘all about jazz.

Source: James Nadal

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8
Album Review

Curtis Counce: You Get More Bounce With Curtis Counce!

Read "You Get More Bounce With Curtis Counce!" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


When bassist Curtis Counce died of a heart attack at the age of 37 in 1963, the jazz world was deprived of a major talent. Not that one would have known much, for his death, while noted, was not extensively covered. Counce, a Midwesterner, had come to California and to jny:Los Angeles to learn his craft, where he played with such incubator orchestras at the Club Alabam as Johnny Otis (trumpeter Art Farmer started there too). He gigged in the ...

1,179
Album Review

Curtis Counce: Curtis Counce/Jack Sheldon/Harold Land/Carl Perkins/Frank Butler Quintet: Complete Studio Recordings

Read "Curtis Counce/Jack Sheldon/Harold Land/Carl Perkins/Frank Butler Quintet: Complete Studio Recordings" reviewed by Samuel Chell


The beauty of this music is so much greater than the sum of its parts that a listener hardly knows where to begin. The two-disc package comprises the main recordings on the Contemporary label 1956-1958 by the short-lived Curtis Counce Group, whose expressed purpose was to develop a West Coast answer to the soulful, hard-boppish East Coast sound. Each of the musicians, though no Down Beat poll winner, was among the most gifted on his instrument, yet the focus was ...

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Hot Track: A Fifth for Frank

Hot Track: A Fifth for Frank

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Bassist Curtis Counce recorded his first leadership album in October 1956. Counce was a major West Coast jazz talent who had assembled a muscular quintet for his premier Contemporary Records session. The album, The Curtis Counce Group, consisted of Jack Sheldon (tp), Harold Land (ts) Carl Perkins (p) Curtis Counce (b) and Frank Butler (d). All of the tracks are killer, but A Fifth for Frank stands out because of the extended drum solo by Butler. A Fifth for Frank ...

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