Curtis Counce – You Get More Bounce: West Coast Bass Leader

Why does a bassist-led quintet from 1957 still sound this alive?

Because Curtis Counce didn't just hold down the bottom - he built a working rhythm section that swung like a locked door and hired soloists who knew when to step back. This isn't a bass feature album. It's a group record where the leader happened to play bass, and that shift in center of gravity changes everything. The pulse is confident, not showy. The arrangements breathe. And the soloists-Harold Land on tenor, Jack Sheldon on trumpet, Carl Perkins on piano-play like they're in a room together, not waiting for their turn at the mic.

Recorded in 1956 and 1957 for Contemporary Records and released as You Get More Bounce with Curtis Counce!, this session captures the West Coast jazz sound at its most honest: tight, swinging, and unafraid to let a tune stretch past nine minutes if the conversation's still good. It's not flashy. It's not trying to reinvent bebop. It's just a working band playing standards and a few originals with the kind of pocket that makes you sit up and listen.

Why does this 2022 reissue matter when originals aren't hard to find?

Because Bernie Grundman cut this one straight from the original tapes, and it shows. Contemporary Records, under Lester Koenig's watch, was fanatical about sound-Roy DuNann's engineering captured every bit of wood grain in Counce's bass and every cymbal shimmer from Frank Butler's kit. But original pressings from the late '50s can be noisy, worn, or overpriced depending on label variation. This 2022 Craft Recordings reissue, pressed at Quality Record Pressings on 180-gram vinyl, gives you the fidelity without the gamble. It's an all-analog chain-no digital conversion, no remastering shortcuts. Just the tapes, Grundman's ears, and QRP's presses.

On Discogs, the original Contemporary stereo pressings can run anywhere from $30 to $150 depending on condition and label design. This reissue? Under $25 in most cases, and it plays cleaner than a lot of VG+ copies from the '50s. For collectors chasing sound over provenance, it's a no-brainer.

The Quick Stats

The Tracklist

Side A:

• Complete (5:51)
• How Deep Is the Ocean (6:39)
• Too Close for Comfort (5:38)
• Mean to Me (4:31)

Side B:

• Stranger in Paradise (7:05)
• Counceltation (6:01)
• Big Foot (9:04)

Start the stream. Let the atmosphere settle before we look at the wax.

Listening Notes

This record feels like late-afternoon sunlight through venetian blinds, driven by a rhythm section that never rushes and never drags. The groove is patient. Counce's bass is resonant and full-bodied, occupying the low end without muddying the midrange where Carl Perkins's piano lives. Frank Butler's drums are crisp-snare hits land with a snap, ride cymbal work is clean and swinging, and the floor tom accents on "Big Foot" give the tune its lumbering, confident stride.

Harold Land's tenor has that West Coast warmth-smooth but never soft, with enough bite to cut through the mix when he wants to make a point. Jack Sheldon's trumpet is conversational, almost casual in the best way. He doesn't grandstand. He states a melody, develops it, and gets out. The arrangements are loose enough to let soloists breathe but tight enough that nothing wanders. "Counceltation," the Counce original on Side B, is a masterclass in how to build tension without raising your voice-just a vamp, a head, and six minutes of ideas that never feel forced.

Put this on during a slow morning with coffee and something simple to read. It's not background music, but it doesn't demand your full attention either. It just settles into the room and stays there.

Pair it with black tea and a window seat-it amplifies the record's unhurried confidence.

The Nerd Sheet: Why This Record Still Moves

On Discogs, the master release page for You Get More Bounce lists over a dozen pressings, from the original 1957 Contemporary mono and stereo editions to Japanese reissues and this 2022 Craft version. The want-to-have ratio sits at a comfortable 1,438 "Haves" to 103 "Wants," which tells you this isn't a grail hunt-it's a staple. Collectors know it, they own it, and they play it.

The community rating of 4.59 out of 5 (based on 152 ratings) puts it in the upper tier of West Coast hard bop sessions. That score isn't inflated by hype-it's earned through decades of turntable time. People keep coming back to this one.

The listening lineage is subtle but real. "Big Foot," the 9-minute closer, features a bass vamp and a stop-time section that later rhythm sections borrowed without credit. The way Counce and Butler lock into a two-feel during the head became a template for bass-and-drums intros on dozens of Blue Note and Prestige dates in the early '60s. It's not a flashy theft-just a pocket that works, passed around like a good recipe.

According to Wikipedia, the album was later reissued under the title Councelation, which caused some confusion among collectors unfamiliar with Contemporary's habit of repackaging sessions under new names. If you're digging through bins and see both titles, they're the same session-just different marketing.

The session synergy here is worth noting. Curtis Counce, Harold Land, Carl Perkins, and Frank Butler were working together regularly in the mid-'50s as the Curtis Counce Group, a working West Coast quintet that held down gigs at clubs like The Haig and The Lighthouse. This wasn't a one-off studio date assembled by a producer-it was a real band playing their book. That cohesion is audible. They don't step on each other. They know when to comp, when to lay out, and when to push.

The Educational Deep Dive: Who Was in the Room?

Curtis Counce was a Kansas City-born bassist who moved to Los Angeles in the early '50s and became one of the most in-demand session players on the West Coast. He worked with everyone from Clifford Brown to Stan Kenton, but his own groups-particularly this quintet-gave him space to lead without overplaying. His tone was warm, his time was rock-solid, and his compositions (like "Counceltation" and "Complete") showed a knack for memorable heads built on simple, singable lines.

Harold Land, the tenor saxophonist, was fresh off his stint with the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet when he joined Counce's group. He brought that hard bop urgency but dialed it back just enough for the West Coast aesthetic-still swinging, still inventive, but less angular than what was coming out of New York at the time.

Jack Sheldon, the trumpeter, was a Los Angeles native who'd go on to become a fixture of the L.A. jazz scene for decades. Here, he's young, confident, and still finding his voice, but the clarity and melodic sense are already there.

Carl Perkins-not the rockabilly guitarist, but the jazz pianist-was a tragic figure in West Coast jazz. He was a brilliant player with a lyrical touch, but struggles with addiction and a devastating car accident in 1958 (which left him partially paralyzed) cut short what should have been a long career. He died in 1958 at age 29 from a drug overdose. His playing on You Get More Bounce is a reminder of what was lost-elegant, swinging, and full of ideas.

Frank Butler, the drummer, was another West Coast mainstay, known for his light touch and impeccable time. He never overplayed, never showed off, and never got in the way. He just swung.

Lester Koenig, the producer, founded Contemporary Records in 1951 and built a catalog that documented the West Coast scene with obsessive care. He trusted his engineers (Roy DuNann in this case) and let the musicians play. No gimmicks, no overdubs, just great sound and good performances.

The "happy accident" on this session? The decision to let "Big Foot" run past nine minutes. It wasn't planned as a suite or a showcase-it just felt right to let the band stretch, and the tape kept rolling. That kind of trust in the moment is rare, and it's why the tune still feels alive 65 years later.

You can grab a copy of this reissue at Miles Waxey, where it's priced at $21.99-a bargain for this kind of sound quality.

The Technical Scrutiny: What to Listen For

The Bernie Grundman mastering is the selling point here, and it delivers. Grundman, who cut lacquers for everyone from Steely Dan to Herbie Hancock, knows how to extract detail without losing warmth. On this reissue, the bass is present and full without booming. The piano has air around each note. The cymbals shimmer without hissing. And the room tone-that subtle ambience that tells you this was recorded in a real space, not a booth-comes through intact.

The QRP pressing is dead quiet. No pops, no surface noise, no center-hole issues. The vinyl is flat, the weight is consistent, and the grooves are deep enough that you can see the modulation under good light. If you're comparing this to an original Contemporary pressing, the reissue wins on silence. The originals have that '50s snap and presence, but they also carry decades of dust, static, and wear. This one just plays clean.

Label variations on the original Contemporary pressings matter if you're chasing collectibility. Early pressings used the yellow "Contemporary" label with the harp logo. Later pressings, from the '60s onward, switched to the more common "Contemporary Records" label with the address listed. The sound difference is marginal, but the price difference can be $50 or more. If you just want to hear the music, skip the label-chasing and grab the Craft reissue.

The soundstage is wide but not exaggerated. You can place each instrument in the stereo field-Counce and Butler are centered, Land and Sheldon are spread left and right, and Perkins floats in the middle with slight panning on his runs. It's a natural, balanced mix that doesn't call attention to itself. You just settle in and listen.

This is a late-night-whiskey record, or a Sunday-morning-eggs-and-jazz record. It doesn't demand anything from you except a little patience and a decent turntable. Play it on a system that can handle bass without muddying the midrange, and you'll hear why Counce mattered.

Context & Afterlife

Curtis Counce died in 1963 at age 37 from a heart attack, cutting short a career that was just hitting its stride. He never became a household name like Charles Mingus or Ray Brown, but among West Coast players, he was respected as a leader, a composer, and a timekeeper who made everyone around him sound better.

The album's cultural afterlife is quiet but persistent. It's not heavily sampled-hip-hop producers tend to gravitate toward grittier, bluesier hard bop from the East Coast-but the clean, swinging groove of "Big Foot" has shown up in sample libraries and loop packs used by beatmakers looking for that mid-tempo pocket.

Jazz educators still point to this record as an example of how a rhythm section should function. The bass leads without dominating. The drums support without filling every gap. The piano comps without crowding the soloists. It's a textbook session for young players learning how to listen and how to leave space.

Collector's Corner: The Final Audit

If you're chasing the original 1957 Contemporary pressing, expect to pay $50-$150 depending on condition and label variation. The mono pressings tend to be cheaper than the stereo editions, and the sound difference is negligible-both were cut from the same session tapes, just mixed differently.

But here's the honest take: unless you're a completist or you just love the feel of an original pressing in your hands, the 2022 Craft reissue is the smarter buy. It's AAA (all-analog), it's mastered by Bernie Grundman, it's pressed at QRP, and it costs a fraction of what a clean original will run you. You're getting 95% of the original sound without the risk of a beat-up sleeve or a noisy disc.

For $21.99, this is a no-brainer for anyone building a West Coast jazz collection. It sits perfectly between the more famous Clifford Brown-Max Roach dates and the cooler, more laid-back Chet Baker sessions. It's not flashy, but it's foundational.

What's your favorite bassist-led session?

Curtis Counce proved that the bass player could lead without turning the record into a bass solo album. He hired great players, wrote solid tunes, and got out of the way when it mattered. That's harder than it sounds, and it's why this session still holds up.

Grab one of our curated copies of You Get More Bounce with Curtis Counce! at Miles Waxey. It's the kind of record that makes you sit down, pour something, and just listen.