(hard bop) [CD] The Curtis Counce Quintet - Exploring The Future - 2013, FLAC (tracks), lossless

Ken Dryden --
Exploring the FutureCurtis 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.

Review by Ken Dryden --
Although he lived for another five years after this session, this seems to be bassist Curtis Counce's last date as a leader. His quintet was in fine form playing originals by band member Elmo Hope and tenor saxophonist Harold Land, also playing standards like "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "Angel Eyes" with convincing chops. Swedish trumpeter Rolf Ericson, who became better known to jazz fans while with Duke Ellington in the '60s, fits in beautifully with the cool-sounding hard bop style of this tight unit. Originally released on the long-defunct Dootone label, this highly sought-after record was finally reissued as a CD on the English label Boplicity in 1996.

Curtis Counce - bass
Harold Land - tenor saxophone
Rolf Ericson - trumpet
Elmo Hope - piano
Frank Butler - drums
Recorded in 1958