Curtis Counce

From the 1940s onward, Curtis Counce emerged as a highly sought-after session bassist and stood among the first African-Americans to immerse themselves deeply in the West Coast jazz movement. Alongside his primary instrument he also studied violin and tuba, leaving his hometown at sixteen to join the Nat Towles Band in Omaha. In 1945 he relocated to Los Angeles, where he worked with Johnny Otis at the Club Alabam and made his recording debut the following year alongside Lester Young. Sideman appearances with Shelly Manne, Lyle Murphy, Teddy Charles, and Clifford Brown filled the years leading up to the formation of his celebrated quintet in 1956. His sudden death from a heart attack deprived jazz of a vital presence. Every Contemporary session he led has since been reissued, as has the long-unavailable album Exploring the Future, while the 1989 CD Sonority brought forward additional unreleased masters from those same dates.