Though many associate ‘California Cool’ with a coterie of players central to Shorty Rogers, there also co-existed a small, but vibrant hard bop brigade. With a foot set firmly in both camps, Curtis Counce was often the bassist of choice. And when not on regular call-out duty, fronted his own power-pack quintet locally for 15 months. Though there were a couple of personal changes, the established line-up was Jack Sheldon, Harold Land, Carl Perkins and the great Frank Butler in the driving seat. As hard as they come, this double CD set is made up of You Get More Bounce With Curtis Counce!, Exploring The Future, Carl's Blues plus a curate's egg in the shape of a much earlier Teddy Charles effort Collaboration West (deduct one star) when they could have easily used the 1956 album The Curtis Counce Group which included ‘Landslide’. Though the two horns/three rhythm combination had long been commonplace, the artistry of all involved here produced an instantly recognisable group sound that literally fizzed while mixing originals (four from Elmo Hope), plus interesting takes on familiar standards ‘Too Close For Comfort’, ‘Angel Eyes’, ‘Nica's Dream’ etc. In all, a fine opportunity to re-explore the fine undervalued work of Jack Sheldon, plus a second long-hard look at Harold Land and a pair of creative, but ultimately doomed pianists. Sadly, Counce himself was felled by a fatal heart attack in his mid-thirties. Nonetheless, their legacy remains intact. Also check out the group's Sonority (Contemporary).