Hey you two..
I've been backing off my TBDB activities a bit because of a couple negative PM's I received a couple days ago...one alluding to my "selfcenterdness", the other to my "constant derailment of posts". Sorry for the derail.
But due to Troy's resurrection of this thread I thought I'd give some feedback.
This is one of my favorite bands. I've worked with Harold and Jack. The band came through Denver during this period, and I was fortunate to go to a piano work shop at a great jazz piano teachers house named Ted Alexander. Some of my closest buddies were students of Ted's. I was still in high school, just beginning my career on the bass. I would go to Ted's house once a month to play along with everybody at these "student sessions".
Ted, hearing that the great Carl Perkins was in town..no, not the country Carl....the jazz pianist Carl...called the old Melody Lounge in the Five Point black district here in Denver where I would stand outside...not being old enough to get in ...to hear many of my hero's, called and invited Carl to the Sunday night session. Carl showed, with the entire band! Curtis had a bad blister on his plucker, so Carl got up to play with ME. I almost shat. Carl, as a boy, had polio and it affected how he played his left hand chords. He would angle his left arm parallel to the keyboard, with his left elbow pointed to his extreme left, so that you couldn't see the notes on the keyboard because of his arm. Uh, Oh.....since at the time, I had no theoretical knowledge, I would cop the bass notes, visually, from the pianist's left pinky finger. This was, of course before Bill Evans came along and eliminated the bass note from his chords and gave it to us to play. Carl, obviously ruined my whole night, but made me learn my changes.
Well, I just derailed myself.
Anyway...I can't agree that this was a west coast, laid back band. Harold Land was an East coast giant before he ever went out west. Check him out on Clifford Brown's/Max Roach's band. Also the Red Mitchel/Harold Land Quintet...a west coast band only in terms of location. The great drummer Frank Butler was a cooker in every sense of the word. Frank did a whole lot of great stuff including "For Real" with Harold, Hampton Hawes and some kid named Scott, who was studying with Red at the time. Frank was famous for his drum solos in which he used his bare hands and fingers all over the set. Listen to " A Fifth For Frank".
Contemporary Records ALWAYS produced a great bass sound on their projects. Besides Curtis...Red, Leroy, Scott and many others.
I never considered
Curtis a great soloist, but he DID take care of business in the section.
The Curtis Counce Quintet has a picture of Curtis, standing behind his Morelli bass, which pose, Charlie Haden copped on one of his records...same out of focus face, same in focus of the fingerboard and hands webbed together around the strings.
"You Get More Bounce With Curtis Counce" has a beautiful, full bosomed lady with a lot of bounce.
Sorry about all the selfcenterdness and derailments.
