• Real Name: Curtis Lee Counce
• Genre: Jazz
• Active: '40s, '50s, '60s
• Instrument: Bass

Biography

Curtis Counce was an in-demand session bassist and one of the first African Americans to get heavily involved in the West Coast jazz movement in the 1940s. He studied violin and tuba in addition to bass before leaving his native city for employment with the Nat Towles Band in Omaha at the age of 16. He moved to L.A. in 1945, taking a job with Johnny Otis at the Club Alabam and made his recording debut with Lester Young the following year. He recorded prolifically as a sideman (Shelly Manne, Lyle Murphy, Teddy Charles, Clifford Brown) before starting his famous quintet in 1956. His premature death from a heart attack was a tragic loss to jazz. All of Counce's Contemporary dates as a leader have been reissued, as has the once rare Exploring the Future. An added bonus was the appearance of previously unreleased Contemporary masters on the 1989 CD Sonority. ~ Ken Dryden, All Music Guide

Representative Albums:

Landslide, Counceltation, You Get More Bounce with Curtis Counce

Similar Artists:

Leroy Vinnegar, Paul Chambers, Red Callender, Ray Brown, Al McKibbon, Wilbur Ware, Oscar Pettiford, Ron Carter

Influences:

Jimmy Blanton

Worked With:

Larance Marable, Carl Perkins, Shorty Rogers, Lester Young, Bud Shank, Art Pepper, Shelly Manne, Harold Land, Stan Kenton, Jimmy Giuffre, Teddy Charles, Chet Baker, Johnny Otis

Complete Studio Recordings: The Master Takes Buy this CD	Exploring the Future Buy this CD	Carl's Blues Buy this CD	You Get More Bounce with Curtis Counce Buy this CD	Sonority Buy this CD
Landslide Buy this CD

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