During 1956-1957, bassist
Curtis Counce led an excellent Los Angeles-based hard bop quintet comprised of trumpeter
Jack Sheldon, tenor saxophonist
Harold Land, pianist Carl Perkins, bassist
Curtis Counce, and drummer
Frank Butler. They recorded four albums' worth of material for Contemporary, all of which have been reissued on CD (three as part of the Original Jazz Classics series). For their debut album, the group performs selections by
Land ("Landslide"), Perkins,
Sheldon, and two by
Gerald Wiggins (including "Sonar"), plus the lone standard "Time After Time." All of Counce's recordings (which include a slightly later album for Dootone) are well-worth getting by collectors interested in 1950s straight-ahead jazz. This disc is an excellent place to start. ~ Scott Yanow